I just went next door to the dentist's office to make an appointment, and now I have one: tomorrow, 11:30 a.m. I've got what may be a few cavities, but I'll be going in purely for a consult that will probably result in my returning for whatever procedure gets recommended. (My boss warned me that some dentists like to upsell you on more expensive procedures that aren't necessarily covered by insurance.) I guess what I'm primarily looking for would be fillings, but I don't know how that would work for a tooth with a cavity forming on the side instead of inside the crown (it's possible). When I had my wisdom tooth extracted years ago, the female dentist took 90 minutes to wrestle the tooth out of my jaw, and she wouldn't let me keep it, maybe because it was biological/biohazardous waste. This time, if a tooth does get pulled, I want to at least take a photo of it. My life is your entertainment, after all.
I'm probably going to need my upper right wisdom tooth to be extracted, and maybe one or two of the neighboring teeth as well. I've also got problem teeth in my lower jaw; I don't feel any cavities there, but the middle molars on both the right and the left sides are sensitive whenever I drink anything cold, so those teeth need to be looked at, too. And if they all need to be pulled out instead of filled, that's fine with me. But will that mean getting crowns? I hope not, but I've heard that leaving empty spaces between teeth can somehow alter your jawline (not that anyone can see mine under all the fat). I've also heard that implants, which might be preferable, are hella expensive.
So—tomorrow, then. Best to get this shit looked at now before it turns into an infection that heads straight into my brain. I've got little enough brain as it is.
Moron all of this later.
The best dentist I've ever encountered is in Daejeon, but she did one hell of an upsell on me. At the time, I let her as she is the expert, but it wasn't medically necessary. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks, John.
DeleteIf you do get a tooth pulled, definitely don't leave the space without filling it with something. A good friend of mine had a bottom molar pulled and just left the space there. The other teeth on both sides started collapsing towards the opening, so eventually, she had to get braces to straighten the teeth up so she could get something to fill the gap. Twice the work, twice the cost, twice the time. LOL
ReplyDeleteBrian
Brian,
ReplyDeleteThanks. I had my upper-right wisdom tooth pulled in 2005, and it was never replaced with anything. I think the tooth was far enough back that it caused me no problems. There's been no impaction or any other evidence of weird growing patterns. But now, I'm probably going to need to have several teeth pulled, and to replace them, either bridges or implants. I've heard from my boss that this dentist only does small-scale work like fillings and such, and he refers you to bigger dental clinics if you need more ambitious work done. We'll see what he says.