I just got out of the dentist's office after a 90-minute session. I paid a bit over W550,000 (about $396) for a high-quality resin crown, but for the next little while, I've been given only a temporary crown. I wear that until the 26th, eleven days from now, then go back on that day to get the permanent crown. (Why it's done this way, I have no idea.) Today involved more drilling, a few molds (lots of "Bite down" commands), and plenty of mouth-rinsing. I could smell my own bone matter smoking and cooking from the drill's friction; it reminded me of the smell of burning chitin when I was a cruel little kid burning insects with a magnifying glass. Some of the weird mold material they used also had an unpleasant, chemical smell to it. And the feeling of the drill vibrating my entire skull was as interesting as always. No real pain except for a twinge when the local anesthetic went in. I found myself, when my face was uncovered, staring at either the ceiling or the monitor hanging in front of me. I was also at risk of sleeping, but the assistant warned me not to drift off. As I now tongue the temporary crown, it feels rough and unfinished. I hope the permanent crown is better.
This crown is for an upper-right molar, the next one over from the upper-right wisdom tooth, which got pulled over a month ago (with one root still stuck in my jaw!). Today's drilling felt a little bit as if the dentist were attacking more than one tooth, but I have to trust he knew what he was doing. Because the dentist worked on the right side of my mouth, I've been told to try to chew food on the left side. I'm also not supposed to chew gum (I almost never chew gum as it is), nor can I eat sticky food, although what qualifies as "sticky" is unclear. I guess that would be anything you bite down on that traps your jaw shut.
So: on the 25th, I hit Immigration. On the 26th, I hit the dentist for a permanent crown that's already paid for. It occurs to me that, at Immigration, I need to tell the staffers that I might be late to pick up my renewed F4 visa because I'll be walking until December 10.
ADDENDUM: short dental-crown animation here. This is approximately what I'm going through, and I now understand the need for several sessions.
Been there, done that several times. Your accurate description of the process brought back all those unpleasant memories. Yeah, it's not painful, but it's still tortuous. The temporary crown always sucks, but the new one should feel like the real thing. Regarding sticky foods, I've had the permanent crown by something I was eating more than once. Luckily, I never swallowed the crown and the dentist was able to reattach it without a problem.
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