Here's the temporary bridge, which will serve as my new teeth for the
next two weeks.
A thin plastic or acrylic shell had been made beforehand from the very first mold that had been taken of my teeth. Using the shell and some quick-setting cement, Terry constructed this bridge and glued it into place.
Note the whitish edge on the front of the temporary bridge. This is where it hooks over the forward retainer tooth, which was ground down considerably less than the rear one. Since my original tooth enamel can be taken off, but not replaced, and the forward tooth wasn't giving me any problems, I wanted to have as little of it removed as possible; just barely enough to anchor the bridge. While removing more of it would almost certainly make for a stronger anchor point, I figure that if I give up cracking brazil nuts open on the left side of my mouth, that the bridge will stay put. If it turns out I figured wrong, I can always go back and get the tooth reshaped into a stronger retainer to anchor the front end of the bridge.
Of course, my chances of getting Fortis, my lame dental insurance company, to cough up another penny for anything involving these teeth is nil. It took six months and lots of phone calls to even get them to admit that I had a mouth, and therefore might be entitled to dental benefits. Fortis is an unbeneficial bureacratic monster devised by deranged insurance carpetbaggers. If they are also your insurance carrier, you have my deepest sympathy.