Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

Well, I have seen the dentist and gotten my teeth cleaned. ( Read more... )

But, for the moment, my teeth are clean, and I stopped at Tully's for second breakfast (chocolate banana bread and a cup of tea), then picked up cat food. I let Petsmart sign me up for their "membership" discount program; no actual card, I gave them a phone number, name, and email address, and they gave me the lower price on the bag of cat food and promised (or threatened?) to email me coupons.

So, I have been to a new dentist, Dr. VanDerHoefe, in walking distance of our new home here in Bellevue. This practice's approach to a cleaning was a bit different from Dr. Mahindra's—among other things, they started by polishing my teeth, and ended with some of the ultrasound thing, rather than vice versa. In between we discussed flossing techniques, and the dentist measured the spaces between my teeth as an indicator of gum health, which was mostly good.

( cut for people who would rather not read about dentistry )

The good news is, the dentist says I only need the one crown replaced. So, I have had lidocaine, had a mold made for the new crown, and have the temporary back on. The tentative schedule is I get the permanent crown a week from Monday. In the meantime, the painkiller has worn off and the swelling hasn't entirely; I've had a naproxen and may take another before bed. Dinner soon, and apple pie for dessert: the lidocaine has worn off, so that side of my mouth is no longer numb or swollen.

It turns out one advantage of reading books on the Palm is that it fits in a jeans pocket, making it much easier to read while waiting for the tooth-molding stuff to set, because I didn't have to worry about where to leave my book while the dentist was doing the stuff before that. (The stuff doesn't taste as horrible as I remember, but that doesn't mean I like it, and peeling it off my upper lip afterwards was annoying.)

I went in today to have my teeth cleaned, as I do every six months (more or less, this had slipped to seven). It was easier than usual: I think the numbing gel on my gums worked better than usual, because the last couple of minutes were the hardest, and that stuff doesn't last long. After my teeth were cleaned, I asked the hygienist to ask the dentist to come in for another question.

There's a gap between two of my front teeth, and has been for a while, in which food tends to get caught. I wanted to know whether this was something he could fix, or whether it was an orthodontic problem. The good news is, he can fix it. The not-so-good news is that what he needs to do is replace a crown (conceivably two), and the tooth underneath is not in good shape. He did root canal on that tooth at least fifteen years ago. (If we need to know exactly, we can go through my chart, but we got that date from where his office was located when I had the work done.) So, I have two more dental appointments, and they're asking the insurance company for pre-authorization. I'm covered 50% for this, up to an annual maximum. This will be the first dental work I've paid for in a couple of years, since the routine preventive stuff is covered 100%. (Yes, I pay for the dental insurance, but my share is something like $2.75/month, meaning that if I go in once a year for a cleaning it's worth it.)

From the dentist, I walked up to the gym. I answered another relatively easy fitness-related question on the way in, and got the card for that stamped. On the way out, the receptionist told me that I had filled my card, and should see the fitness manager on my next visit to schedule my free 30-minute training session. (When they originally advertised this, it was "get 8 stamps in the month of March," and the trip to England interrupted that, but they've kept going.) I doubt this will tempt me to pay for sessions, but I could use either more balance-related exercises, or a check on my form on a few things.

After the gym, I walked back down, past the dentist, to the Little Pie Company, remembering mrissa's rule that if a medical person puts a foreign object into your body, you can have anything you want for dessert. I had thought of it right after visiting the dentist, but at that moment what I wanted was the weight room. Fortunately, the bakery is open late enough that I could have both. And, it turns out, puts some things on sale for half off (or just over) between 7 and 8 p.m., so I have a ten-inch apple pie and a five-inch pecan pie for less than I would have paid for an eight-inch apple pie at 5:00.

And then I walked back to the subway, grinning, with my pie, gym gear, and library book.

( A good workout, but numbers are still boring )

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.

I have been to the dentist, and my teeth are now clean. While I was paying for the visit, the dentist said he'd like to do X-rays next time, and I said okay and that he should make a note of that (we didn't do any last time either, so it'll be a year and a half, at least, between sets). Also after the cleaning, he said something about laminates to "make [my] front teeth beautiful" and I said I wasn't buying anything cosmetic.

Less cheerfully, both he and the hygienist commented, approvingly, that I had lost weight. I explained that they didn't want to do it the way I had (the prednisone special), but didn't actually say "hey, I don't want to discuss this topic."

He also asked me who coyotegoth is, meaning "how do you know him?" and because of the way he phrased it, I wound up saying something like "no, he doesn't work with me, but he connected me with the agency that got me this job" rather than "my best friend introduced us."

I went to the dentist this morning, to get my teeth cleaned. His daughter was working as his assistant today, and he introduced me to her as "one of my favorite patients."

This time, he used the topical anesthetic dentists have--the one I've been given by some dentists to numb my gum so they can inject Novocaine--on my gums, so the cleaning would hurt less. I was skeptical, because I don't like being numb after dental work, but he was right that it wore off quickly, and it may have helped a bit. The dentist also scolded me for not consistently using an electric toothbrush. I need to replace the one I have now, which I don't like: he insisted on giving me one just like it, and finally told me to give it to cattitude, who is also a patient of his.

Then I went to the gym. A proper workout, not just Xpressline--but I felt as though the quick-and-intense approach there left me less able to do three sets on the same equipment. So I did what I could, and took the weight down a bit on several things. I'm going to try to take advantage of having 5 July as a day off to get in two serious workouts that weekend.

Then I went to Excellent Dumpling, my standard after-gym lunch, where I had a scallion pancake and an order of sweet ginger duck, plus a cheerful conversation with a stranger who was seated at the same table. When I told her I was going to Brooklyn for cheap spices, she asked for more information, and I wound up giving her approximate directions to Sahadi's, and warning her they're closed Sundays. Then I went there, and spent about $35 on spices, dried fruit, cheese, basmati rice, cookies, and such. I used to get out of Sahadi's for 20 or so, but I'd let the list of stuff to buy there grow longer than usual, and I bought some duck pate for Monday's lunch. (And Tuesday's if Cattitude doesn't have the other half for his lunch on Monday.)

I called my mother when I got home, thus taking care of the other thing on the "do this weekend" list (we didn't talk last weekend). This means I can thoroughly lazy tomorrow if I need to.

Also, I've not been sneezing or itching this afternoon/evening, which is evidence for the hypothesis that I wasn't reacting to Julian, but to something in the air in Inwood that isn't blooming in Port Washington (or wasn't last week).

( gym details )