The Dead Tooth

This is the epitome of my sister, I'll call her Ann to protect her identity, although if knows my family they won't need to guess which sister "Ann" is.

My mother and Ann have always fought constantly. Not in the normal way mothers and daughters fight. I once heard Ann tell my mom that she was essentially a whore because she needed her uterus to give her self worth. WTF.

Ann is also 24 years old and as a result has been off my parents insurance for a number of years. She has her own insurance plan that covers dental. However, Ann evidently never felt the need to find her own dentist (our family dentist wasn't one of the dentists approved by her plan) and as a result hadn't until recently seen a dentist in three years. About a month ago Ann walked into the family home and started screaming at my mother and father that they were terrible parents who didn't allow her to see a dentist. Ann explained that it's our mothers fault because she never made Ann an appointment. Ann is fully capable in making other appointments (doctor's visits, hair appointments..) but it apparently fell on my mother to make her 24 year old daughter dental visits.

My parents, feeling guilty, said that they would pay out of their pocket for her to visit the family dentist, as Ann didn't want to go to someone new. If you think this makes no sense now, just wait.

I got a call from my mother a few days ago in hysterics. Ann returned from her dentist appointment in tears because she had a dead tooth and needed a root canal. She blamed my mom and went on a rampage explaining how it was all her fault that she needed to get one of the most painful procedures known to man. Although I tried to explain to my mom that this was in no way her fault, she still felt overwhelmingly guilty. Why hadn't she made sure Ann saw a dentist? All her other three kids had. Would she have been able to prevent this dead tooth fiasco from happening? Ann also called me to complain about how horrible our parents are and that they favor all of the other kids but her. Although I knew she was being completely irrational, I couldn't help also pity her. It's not like a root canal is supposed to be fun. Phone calls from my other sister Margaret and my dad followed, everyone throwing their 10 cents into the mess known as Ann's dead tooth.


A few days later my brother, we will call him Ed, had to make his own dental appointment and so he called to make one himself, (he is 18) and when the office called back to confirm it my mom picked up. She asked if she should make an appointment for her daughter Ann, for the root canal. The dentist got on the phone and was confused. Yes, he just saw Ann but she had no dental problems. Not even a cavity! NO DEAD TOOTH! The ENTIRE story was a lie, just to make my mom feel guilty!

When Ann returned home to do her laundry a few days later, Ed dropped the bomb. Everyone in the family knew she was a liar among other things. My mom walked in and Ann went off the walls, "HOW DARE YOU SNOOP ON ME! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO INVESTIGATE INTO MY LIFE!!!" and stormed out.

There are few people in this world who would make up such a heinous lie and yet feel that the people who caught her in the lie are the ones in the wrong. Ann falls into that special category.