[Previous entry: ""Breakfast Meetings".. WTF?"] [vfth : idx]
06/14/2007 Entry: "Dental Hackery"
So, finally I'm forced to go to the dentist again, by a complete disaster of one of my upper front teeth (Upper Right 2 for those dental obsessives) deciding to collapse.
Suffice to say I'm now in need of some restorative dental work, but shock-horror, I actually found a really good dentist, who doesn't scare the pants off me, doesn't complain and berate me about my teeth, and to cap it all, took me on as an NHS patient, but if I want any of the fancy or expensive stuff, of course I can go private... right now, I think I landed on my feet ;).
This tooth was the recipient of a root canal treatment about 4/5 years ago, because a deep filling finally caused irritation in the pulp chamber, caused the root to become infected and an abcess to form - the abcess formed very rapidly (like within 3 weeks), yet until then I had no discomfort from it. The dentist at the time saved the tooth, and hoped we could get away without placing a crown.
Well, the tooth went the way of most dead, root canaled teeth, became brittle, discoloured, and finally broke on Friday afternoon. I spent the weekend looking like a thug, because most dentists near the office were private only, and wanted their palm crossing with £50 just for walking through the front door.
Over the weekend, I searched and googled, and these guys came to my rescue on Monday morning - even agreeing to see me the same day.
Best of all, it wasn't half as bad as I thought. After telling the dentist that she'd probably have a blue fit after examining my mouth, she said that apart from the new crown at the front (thus giving me a largely artificial smile, as UL2 to UR2 will all be indirect bonded restorations, aka bridges and crowns), I've got one broken tooth which was borderline between saving and extracting (we chose to extract, as the neighbouring teeth are healthy), and two teeth that require fillings.
The scary thing is, this has given me an unhealthy fascination with dental terms. I'm one of those people who tries to learn about what is happening to them, and so I now know what terms like distal, mesial, occlusal, buccal, lingual, etc., actually mean - and it's not half as bad as they sound. Question is, will I find the process of a dental exam a bit more relaxing in future... "8 missing, 7 amalgam occlusal lingual palatal (that's a *big* filling), 6..."
