Dental Fun 2006
The time has come for my dental fun to begin anew in 2006. I hate going to the dentist, and for that hatred I paying dearly, literally.
Last year I found a new dentist, whom I love. I had gum surgery, multiple root canals, and even more crowns. At this point once I am dead and buried, my teeth will live many, many centuries beyond me.
Tomorrow I have a dental appointment to begin work on another quadrant of my mouth. You know it is bad when you have to divide the work into quadrants. And I was excited, sort-of, to begin the work so that I could be done with the dental extravaganza.
I feel the need to point out that I do have good dental hygiene, honest. I don't have gnarled, brown, rotting teeth. In fact, they look quite nice thanks to spending my entire adolescence in braces. Rob is convinced that excessive tooth brushing and flossing are the cause of all my troubles. But the real cause of all my teeth problems are:
1) crappy dentists in the past who did crappy work,
2) fillings that were too large and over time caused my teeth to become weak
3) A love of hard candy which caused several of those brittle teeth to break. I will curse that little box of Halloween Nerds to my dying day, and
4) Being pregnant seven times and throwing up every several times a day, every single day formonths, YEARS on end
5) My hatred for dentists which made me not get the work done in a timely manner, and
6) Crappy genetics
So, tomorrow I was all set to go and begin new work. But, now one of the teeth I just had a root canal done on and capped last year, began hurting. Not throbbing blinding pain, just extremely sore. After it lasted for a couple of days I self prescribed some antibiotics, because I am a doctor.* It hasn't helped any, and this morning I woke up with my jaw aching when I open my mouth, or repeatedly poke in front of my ear. At this point it is difficult to tell if it is sore from all the poking or hurts all on it's own.
*no, not really I just play one on the internet
** I am so tired of all the spam comments. I want to go back and turn off all of the comments on the old posts, but who the hell has time for that.
Last year I found a new dentist, whom I love. I had gum surgery, multiple root canals, and even more crowns. At this point once I am dead and buried, my teeth will live many, many centuries beyond me.
Tomorrow I have a dental appointment to begin work on another quadrant of my mouth. You know it is bad when you have to divide the work into quadrants. And I was excited, sort-of, to begin the work so that I could be done with the dental extravaganza.
I feel the need to point out that I do have good dental hygiene, honest. I don't have gnarled, brown, rotting teeth. In fact, they look quite nice thanks to spending my entire adolescence in braces. Rob is convinced that excessive tooth brushing and flossing are the cause of all my troubles. But the real cause of all my teeth problems are:
1) crappy dentists in the past who did crappy work,
2) fillings that were too large and over time caused my teeth to become weak
3) A love of hard candy which caused several of those brittle teeth to break. I will curse that little box of Halloween Nerds to my dying day, and
4) Being pregnant seven times and throwing up every several times a day, every single day for
5) My hatred for dentists which made me not get the work done in a timely manner, and
6) Crappy genetics
So, tomorrow I was all set to go and begin new work. But, now one of the teeth I just had a root canal done on and capped last year, began hurting. Not throbbing blinding pain, just extremely sore. After it lasted for a couple of days I self prescribed some antibiotics, because I am a doctor.* It hasn't helped any, and this morning I woke up with my jaw aching when I open my mouth, or repeatedly poke in front of my ear. At this point it is difficult to tell if it is sore from all the poking or hurts all on it's own.
*no, not really I just play one on the internet
** I am so tired of all the spam comments. I want to go back and turn off all of the comments on the old posts, but who the hell has time for that.
21 Comments:
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You have my sympathy, girl. I hate the dentist. Got all the kids in last fall, and my hubby went in too. But I didn't. The thought of needing to go in just kinda hovers over my head. I have found that tea tree oil dabbed on a sore gum can get rid of little inflammations. Of course for something serious you still have to go in, but if you suspect you're sore from a popcorn husk or something like that, the tea tree oil might be worth trying for a day or two...
Mary
I'm far too ashamed to even admit the last time I was at the dentist. You just reminded me that I should probably go and face the music. Do you think it would suffice if I just opened my mouth real wide in front of a mirror here at home and took a look at things myself?
my new dentist took one look inside my mouth and asked how many kids I had.....
it's not your fault.
lord I pity you though....
I hate the dentist...and yes, since we've rolled into a new year, I need to get some work done.
rats.
Oh I know your pain on the dentist I have been to him once a week for the last 3 weeks and I have to go again on Monday!
And to get rid of Spam without going back and removing comments on each post is just to add word verification! It will apply back to your whole blog automatically.
As much as I hate word verification and did not want to have to tell you as now when I comment I will have to type those damn letters in!
I have heard that pregnancy causes your teeth to decay rapidly.
Something about the hormones and such.
My husband had oral surgery a couple of weeks ago.
I am scheduled to go in late March.
I hate the dentist.
I will probably have to do the sedation thing. I can't stand having that stuff in my mouth nor the sounds.
shudder
*but I don't want to be a toothless hag at 40 either*
On the comment thing- I turned off the verification and haven't had ONE spam! I wonder why?
oohhh, you know you have a sympathetic ear here. I told Brent last night that when my quickly-approaching dental checkup happens, I'm requesting nitrous just to have my teeth cleaned.
I last went to the dentist...oh, five years ago? Maybe only four. I got fillings all over my mouth that time, so I am pretending there is no possibility of further problems.
Also, word verification fixed my outrageous spam problems.
It's funny how many people are doing their yearly check-ups right now. Our family included. Just yesterday I called and made all our appointments. So in the next three weeks seven of nine people in our family will have checkups. We'll be praying hard for no cavities! Or, heaven forbid, anything worse.
BTW, your and my teeth are related. Crappy dentist from my youth over-drilled all of the cavities he filled. I'm also in my eighth pregnancy. Now I have several crowns. I don't really *hate* going to the dentist, but I definitely *hate* the bills!
Oh no, don't make me type random letters to comment! Why can't blogger use real words?
I'm with you on the dentist stuff. I had great teeth until I had 4 pregnancies in 5 years.
I think I have the same problem. I take such good care of my teeth with all the brushing and the flossing that I periodically have to have them patched up.
Ya, I have to go to the dentist too. I've been avoiding it due to no dental insurance and I figure my kids come first.
Good luck
Try reading Martin Amis's autobiography 'Experience'. The man is obsessed with his teeth. He also details how other famous writers have suffered with their teeth - Nabokov, Joyce etc.. None of them got it through pregnancy though.
I sympathize! I went to the dentist yesterday and had two teeth filled. Thanks to a fruit snack that yanked out a piece of my tooth! Anyway, I haven't gone to the dentist in years due to a lack of insurance and now I'm facing the music. Two teeth this month and now some other gum procedure next month that is costing me another huge amount of money. I guess dental maintenance is more important than I thought! Anyway - you have my sympathy.
I just followed a link to your site for the first time, and the couple posts I've read so far are great. Thanks for the good reading.
And I absolutely feel your pain when it comes to the dentist. Literally. I also have to have the work done in "quadrants". I have a check up next week, but one of my teeth with a crown just started getting shooting pain when I eat sugar. That's a good sign, right? Like it's healing itself? :)
Staci
Ack. Dentists. I just had to have a filling replaced this week. Still, the lack of pain is nice.
I figure I have already had my Karmic revenge on all dentists, the time that one of them semi-pressured me into having an unnecessary mouth X-ray. I hate hate hate having things near the back of my mouth, so when he put the lead shield thingies in place at the back of my jaw and asked me to bite down on it I did. Hard. And his thumb was still in the way. It's a nice memory to have whenever I don't like what my (new and much better) dentist is doing *g*
Good luck!
Sorry to hear about all the dental work! I did once read that it's possible to cause tooth damage through overbrushing, but I think the damage cited was caused by applying too much pressure, rather than by brushing with great frequency (my dh presses so hard when he brushes that his toothbrushes are worn out in a couple days, and he has crummy teeth). In your case, I'm sure it can be attributed to genes and several pregnancies, so Rob should just appreciate your gleaming smile and sweet breath.
Hope it goes well!
Cordially,
Melora
Bad dentists, be damned! Like you, I had some bad ones that put HUGE gargantuan, Grand Canyon sized fillings in my molars and I am just bidding my time until one cracks. Ah! I feel for you! Here in the Northwoods they are advertising "Sedation Dentistry", sounds intriguing, doesn't it?
I am de lurking to join you in your dental hating...I just had my first root canal yesterday and found a good dentist! It did'nt hurt but my eye was numb most of the day....a definately worth it trade off IMHO!! WE haven't had any dental insurance for years so while I join you in my efforts at dental health, the shame of having "bad" teeth is shocking in its intensity for me.
I have 4 kids so am here for support and encouragment as I remind myself I am not alone in my insanity.
What a strange thing... I was just talking with a friend of mine who also had seven babies and also threw up several times a day during every pregnancy, and she was completely depressed because basically the dentist is saying that they're just going to have to take all her teeth out and give her nice new ones because of how damaged they are. She feels as though he's telling her that a prosthetic arm would actually look much nicer than her real one. Good luck with your dental work, I admire your positivity!
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