the saeman three: January 2009

Go to your dentist on a regular basis!

I haven't been to a dentist in quite a while. But I brush my teeth twice a day, so it's not that bad. OH HOW WAS I WRONG!

10 days ago, while chewing on some hard candy, a piece of my tooth broke. (If I only listened to Hope Crockett telling me not to chew on ice back in 1983!) It was the weekend, so I couldn't do anything for a couple of days. My old dentist has been retired for a few years, so I needed to do some research and find a new one. I googled "Seattle dentists", posted a note on the church website, and looked through the yellow pages. But that didn't get me anywhere.

While at the grocery store, I noticed the Seattle Metropolitan magazine had an article about Seattle's top dentists. There were a couple of dentists listed around my area. I googled each one of them and found one with 5 glowing reviews on yellowpages.com.

Monday morning I called and was able to get in for an appointment that afternoon. I had an exam and x-rays done. I have about 8 cavities and wear on one of my front teeth (and don't forget the piece of my tooth that has fallen out!) The doctor was great. He explained everything very well and made me feel super comfortable. I made my second appointment for a cleaning and third for the fillings.

My cleaning went fairly well. The hygienist was fantastic. She had to do a ton of scrapping, but she was very gentle. I also found out that my old mouth guard still fits. Maybe if I start wearing it again, I won't wear my front teeth out any more than I already have.

And then today, I went in for some of my fillings. There are 2 teeth on my upper left that need help, one of which is the broken one. The doctor started drilling away. (note to self...bring your Zune next time so you don't have to listen to the drill). He drilled on the very last tooth a bit to get it ready for the filling. He then moved on to the broken tooth. After a lot of drilling, he stopped and took off his mask and gave me two options. PULL IT OUT or ROOT CANAL.

YIPPEE. I chose root canal so I can save the tooth.

After 2 hours sitting in the chair, I walked away with yet another appointment and 2 temporary fillings. Next Monday, I will go back in to get permanent fillings put in. Then, I will make more appointments for the rest of my mouth.

I hope Obama stimulates us again. I will just sign over that check straight to my dentist! And my tax return. I am going to owe this guy a bunch of money!

Moral of the story... Go to the dentist on a regular basis! And Floss! If you do not have insurance, find a way to go anyway. If you have insurance, get off your butt and go!

Sorry to my Momma and Daddy.
You spent so much money
making sure I have pretty teeth
and I go and screw it all up!

UPDATE...
Monday, January 19, 2009

I went back to the dentist this afternoon for another round of drilling. I am the proud new owner of 2 more fillings, one of which was almost deep enough to deserve another root canal. I chose to have silver fillings versus the tooth colored fillings. I figure that they will serve as a shiny reminder to take better care of myself!

Now I don't have to go back to the dentist until the last Monday in February. But, I'm sure I will have a couple more appointments after that one. I still have to have the temporary fillings changed to permanent ones.