The President recently visited a dentist in Florida and the appointment was not on his official calendar. Those who wish him ill have speculated about various awful maladies. Probably all such are wildly off the mark.
He and I are roughly the same age - we got our adult teeth pre-fluoride. If my mouth is any indication, he has several filled cavities and crowns. I have several and it is a rare year that one of them doesn't fall off - normally while eating - and need re-glueing.
It is no big deal, presuming you don't swallow the crown (I never have). The dentist cleans the crown and the tooth stump, applies glue, and puts it in place. You bite firmly on the crown topped with a cotton pledget for a couple of minutes till the glue sets, and are out of the office in a half hour. It doesn't hurt.
I have had this procedure done in coastal Croatia, in Kona, HI, and on Guam, as well as many less exotic stateside locations. The dentist in Croatia and I shared no language so we gestured and smiled a lot. He did a fine job, after which the cab took me back to my cruise ship at dockside.
