My gums feel like they're coming to after a barfight, face down on asphalt and in a pile of broken glass. They're not going to be happy in a few minutes, once they figure out what happened...
It's a good thing I already finished lunch. French onion soup in a bread bowl from Panera was about as challenging a meal as I was up to.
(Speaking of which, what's up with everything they stick in your mouth at the dentist tasting awful? And the awfullest stuff is the stuff they try to make taste good. Take that tooth polish stuff, f'rinstance...
Me: "Ew. Grape? Isn't there, like, a grownup flavor?"I try and have a good time while I'm there, at any rate.)
A-A-Dr. K: "Um, I think that is the grownup flavor. The kid's stuff is bubble gum."
Me: "Oh, ick! Couldn't they do, say, ahi tuna flavor? Or French onion soup? Ooh! Soy-and-wasabi flavor fluoride rinse!"
I had the EXACT SAME discussion with my dentist when i had my crown put in earlier this year....only my suggestions were bourbon- and martini-flavored tooth polish stuff.
ReplyDeleteI can't decide whether that stuff turns my stomach because of the active ingredients, or the flavoring.
ReplyDeleteMy sister has a visceral reaction to anything mint flavored, to the point of gagging. When they took plaster molds for her braces, guess what flavoring they used?
ReplyDeleteOh Bourbon and Martini? Mmmm
ReplyDeleteBacon! Or Salisbury Steak!
My Dentist has mint stuff. Its hardly tasty, but it masks a lot of ills.
Tam: "Oh, ick! Couldn't they do, say, ahi tuna flavor? Or French onion soup? Ooh! Soy-and-wasabi flavor fluoride rinse!"
ReplyDeleteAaDK: Anesthetist, you'd best turn down the flow on that laughing gas.
Anesthetist: Doc, we aren't USING gas. She may have underlying mental issues...
How close are they to being finished Tam? this seem's like a lot of work for a crown to repair a broken tooth. Still the good thing is you'll have all of this behind you when they finish.
ReplyDeleteAsk for unflavored polish.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand any of their oversweetened fake flavors, so that's what I do.
It's boring and reminds you that it's basically sand in your mouth, but at least it doesn't make you gag.
(And contra Drang I don't think the polish HAS any active ingredients. I think it's just grit, doing mechanical work.)
Bourbon or Martini? Damn, I wish I had thought of that. I think I'll ask for that the next time I'm in with the inquisition.
ReplyDeleteI HATE the dentist. They're always touching stuff that hasn't been sterilized and then sticking their hands in your mouth. "Don't touch that pencil that you just pulled out of your pocket." After working in the nuclear industry you become very aware of how cross contamination works.
My dentist had piña colada! I asked for McCallan 12 year old.
ReplyDeleteSport Pilot:
ReplyDeleteIf the tooth is broken off too low, they need to do surgery to remove bone from the upper pallet around the tooth to get the gum line to go further down.
It can be pretty intense stuff.
Sport Pilot,
ReplyDeleteSadly, the broken incisor was just a symptom. Thanks to some horrible experiences at the dentist some time ago, I had avoided them for far too long.
The time came that I couldn't ignore it any longer and so I decided to get all my issues fixed. Thankfully, the dental industry seems to have discovered "bedside manner" in the intervening years, and that berating the patient until they cry is not the way to make a happy repeat customer who is interested in being an active partner in their own dental care.
I'm staring at a lot of work over the next few months, and it's gonna cost two-and-a-half Les Baers, but when it's done, it'll be done.
Glad your going ahead and getting a of your dental work resolved Tam. I'm often suprised by the number of of issue's that can take place with dental health.
ReplyDeleteI think the worst part of my root canal and crown (aside from the bill) was the glop they used for the mold for the crown, just a really unpleasant sensation. Course the whole thing was made better because my dentist at the time was a really cute redhead.
ReplyDeleteWhen they were color-matching my crown on my rearmost upper molar, I was asked if I ever planned on dental bleaching so they could take that into account. I told them the only person likely to see that tooth was a dentist, paramedic, or serial killer, so I wasn't too worried if it matched.
ReplyDeleteTam,
ReplyDeleteNice of you to use values I can understand. Two Les Baers is indeed a princely sum. Too bad you weren't out here. My Brother-in-law, the dentist, has a soft touch & a sharp eye.
Ulises from CA
Michael, yah. To me it smells (tastes) exactly like the two-part sealant for aircraft fuel tanks.
ReplyDeleteI found out the hard way that antibiotics, which I was still taking from the last visit, negates the effect of Novocaine. Basically the extraction was without benefit of sedative. I still think a single malt would have done the trick, and saved them the hassle of using a needle!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, sounds like you've found the wonderful world of peridontal disease Tam. Welcome to my nightmare! I figure if you can keep your sense of humor while the dentist is jamming a metal probe into your gums until he hits bone then everything thing else is cake. My first Peridontist tried talking me into spending $5,000. Luckily I found one thats a little more reasonable.
ReplyDeleteHeh. That and amalgam filling are basically self-destructing.
ReplyDeleteThey pull away from the tooth and allow the rot to get behind them after a few decades.
Sport Pilot: Yup. Including heart disease. Dental caries bacteria has a bad habit of getting into the bloodstream and attacking artery walls in random places, causing clot build-ups.
Can't help w/the tuna flavored polish but...Oolong or black tea has enough fluoride you can justify drinking it instead of a not-so-tasty fluoride rinse. Let me also recommend CoQ-10 to anyone looking at a lot of dental work. It really, really helped improve my gums, to the point that my dentist asked me what I was doing 'right'. I use 100mg daily, and I highly recommend it to anyone facing a lot of dental woe. YMMV, of course, but it seemed to do me a lot of good.
ReplyDeletehttp://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/tea/
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/othernuts/coq10/
Geez. This whole string of comments gives me the willies. I had an in-plant put in a couple years ago and know that just one is a major cost and pain.
ReplyDeleteI loved the root canal and then the complete failure of the tooth before I could get a crown. 3 hours in the dentist chair while he chiseled out the remnants of the tooth. Ah the memories.
Good luck Tam. Hope everything goes without issue.
I recommend large quantities of alcohol. Something you can drink neat, like Scotch or Bourbon.
ReplyDeleteMuch better than the pills they want to push on you.
I never floss, so my gums bleed at the dentist. Lo and behold, a side effect of the numb-juice they inject into your gums is greatly reduced blood flow. Now I just mention I'm a bleeder, they say "Oh!" and jab me a few more times, and thereafter I don't feel a thing. Couple years ago I had a root canal and it was seriously a very pleasant experience.
ReplyDeleteEating or drinking's a messy no-no for the rest of the day though.