I have had my slightly belated dental visit. Full X-rays and a cleaning. Before he started, I asked about the X-rays and he said they looked good.
Then he handed me a mirror because he wanted to show me a bad spot. He used a phrasing that apparently isn't always as bad as it sounds: "cracked tooth." In this case, what I appear to have is a damaged tooth and filling; he'll patch it for now. This is Dr. Mahindra's idea: if he had said I needed a crown I'd have said "okay, go ahead." There's also another small cavity. I'm to make another appointment to have these filled. It's possible I'll need a crown on that first damaged tooth in a year or two.
It appears that his idea of being gentle with me is to do things in small batches. Yes, I tend to ask for a break partway through the cleaning (and I think I asked for breaks partway through the more serious stuff, but the last filling was in 2000 and the root canals were in 1993, so I don't remember well.*
Also, my insurance covers preventive work such as cleanings and occasional X-rays, 100%. (Since I'm new to this coverage, as far as it's concerned these are the first set of X-rays.) I'll be paying a deductible plus 20%, I think he said, for the fillings.
*I have dates for things I don't remember well because we checked in my chart.
Then he handed me a mirror because he wanted to show me a bad spot. He used a phrasing that apparently isn't always as bad as it sounds: "cracked tooth." In this case, what I appear to have is a damaged tooth and filling; he'll patch it for now. This is Dr. Mahindra's idea: if he had said I needed a crown I'd have said "okay, go ahead." There's also another small cavity. I'm to make another appointment to have these filled. It's possible I'll need a crown on that first damaged tooth in a year or two.
It appears that his idea of being gentle with me is to do things in small batches. Yes, I tend to ask for a break partway through the cleaning (and I think I asked for breaks partway through the more serious stuff, but the last filling was in 2000 and the root canals were in 1993, so I don't remember well.*
Also, my insurance covers preventive work such as cleanings and occasional X-rays, 100%. (Since I'm new to this coverage, as far as it's concerned these are the first set of X-rays.) I'll be paying a deductible plus 20%, I think he said, for the fillings.
*I have dates for things I don't remember well because we checked in my chart.