Dentist

I went to the dentist this morning. My appointment was for 9:30. When I got there, there were no parking spaces in the lot. First time that has ever happened. There were no parking spaces on the street in front of the building either. I ended up driving around the block and parking on the far side. It was raining. I ended up being about five minutes late. OK, it wasn't really raining, it was more of a drizzle, and I did remember my hat.

I was there for step one of getting a cap put on a tooth. I reminded them I didn't want any adrenaline with my Novocaine. Last time I had work done I got a 12 hour migraine, and I didn't want a repeat performance. The first thing they did was give me some yucky tasting stuff to swish around in my mouth. Turns out it was Listerine. Yuck.

They gave me two shots and they were the worst part of the entire ordeal. They tried giving me a bite block to hold my jaw open, but it didn't work out. It was easier just to open my mouth when Dr. Parent needed in. She would go in and work for a minute, and then she would be out. Time to change bits, get some goop, or something, and that gave me time to let my jaw relax. Much better than having the bite block in continuously.

They put some kind of clamp and a rubber sheet in my mouth. I do not know what the clamp was for. I surmised the rubber sheet was to collect debris and to keep the work site dry. I now realize they are going to work on the tooth in my lower jaw, the one that has had a crack in it for like forever. But this is probably not the one that one that is giving me problems with cold things! Oh, well. Better to get it done now before it breaks some more and causes some real trouble.

They wanted to know whether I wanted a porcelain crown or a gold one. I was surprised that they were asking me this at this late date. I would have expected them to get this cleared up long in advance. On the other hand, I'm an adult, I should have some idea of what I'm in for, I should have considered this beforehand. But wait! I've got an excuse! I was worried about the after effects of the adrenaline. Actually it was a simple matter. I already have one crown, a porcelain one, and it has a chip out of it. Gold is tougher, it has fewer problems, so gold it is.

Dr. had to go below the gum line for at least part of the tooth. This required the additional work of pushing a string inbetween the gum and the tooth so the Dr. could get at the tooth without damaging the gum. Actually, I think is was a series of three strings, each slightly larger in diameter than the last.

I got home about 11:30, had a cup of hot (warm) chocolate and took a nice long nap. When I woke up the numbness was gone and no migraine.

I didn't get around to taking the picture till they were almost all done, which is why you can't see anything interesting. Except the cool reflection of the lights in the sunglasses. The bright one in the center is the dentist's work light. The two greenish ones to either side are the flourescent room lights.

Update January 2017 replaced missing picture.