I was riding the Pea Picker bike on the sidewalk in 5th grade in Florissant. Somebody had edged the sidewalk, the front tire got in the groove, and I fell face-first into the sidewalk, just 100 feet away from our house. It shattered my two permanent front upper teeth. Showing my Mom (Marni) what had happened, she rushed me to Uncle Joe Lundergan’s dentist office. He was Claude’s uncle. Uncle Joe fashioned two stainless steel caps and set the injured teeth in cement. The kids at school called me some nicknames like “metal mouth” and “Frankenstein” (they could’ve at least called me FrankenZwart).
About a year and a half later the teeth died and needed root canals. It was my first taste of real pain. A new plastic bonding treatment had come out and the result looked a lot better.
I neglected my teeth by not getting routine cleanings/care from age 19 to 29. In 1989 I went to the University of Kentucky dental school for a mouth makeover. I got a 3 tooth bridge for the front teeth, and they replaced all of my fillings. The bridge is still doing well 30 years later.