When I was a boy about 12 years old I was in the band and I played the Trumpet. I was outside one day practicing in the backyard when my brother came up from behind me and quickly jumped in front of me and intentionally whacked the front of the horn. Well, that cracked my front tooth in a diagonal way that exposed the root. Oh, was it painful to breathe in or out. I went after him and tried to beat him senseless with the horn but to no avail, he was too quick for me. I went to the dentist to have a root canal on it the following day and to put a composite cap on it so I didn't look like a hick from red lick.
The following month, I was riding my bmx bike with some neighborhood friends. We were taking jumps over a dirt mound that was in the woods by my house. I had gone over the jump numerous times and had a good feel for how to land right. Well, this one time i just wasn't prepaired for the back end to kick out so far and when I landed it jolted me forward and I whacked my front tooth on the metal crossbar. "Ting" is actually what I heard when it happened. It didn't hurt my tooth since I already had the root canal, but the blood from my lip and tongue however was a different experience that I don't want to have again. I had to go back to the dentist and have him put the cap back on my tooth, go the emergency room to put a stitch or two in my lip and get back on my bike to make sure I could make the jump or else I'd always fear that stupid thing forever.
Today I look at these situations and think of how much money my parents had to fork out for our stupidity. I mean, two dentist visits, a root canal, two caps, emergency room, stitches, time off work, medicines.....holy crap! No wonder they say it costs so much to have kids. it's not the clothes and school and toys and all that stuff, but all the ancillary things like these events that run the credit cards up. Just wait until I post the story of me putting my face through the back of my Aunt Kathy's new Chevy Chevette when I was riding my bike to prove to my brother that I can do it with no hands. Why I'm still alive, I'll never understand.
JC