i have not been to a dentist in probably 10 years

i went to the dentist today. i nearly fainted when he showed me the fee schedule of what my procedures (which i still haven't had done) would cost. i'm thinking i'll just wait until that dream job with the dental plan comes through. dear democrat presidential candidates: you better be serious about universal health care.

the more dentists i see, the more convinced i am that they're all snake-oil salesmen.

I think you're right.

When I finally went to one about 18 months ago, he said I had a hairline fracture of my right rearmost molar, should be crowned, etc., only cost $600 if you want to go ahead and do it, blah blah. It's never given me a minute of trouble so I said no thanks. Oh and three cavities mysteriously turned into four when the filling started.

has anyone used care credit (or whatever it's called)? seems like a ripoff even if you go for the "no interest" option -- it's still around 22% APR, and if you want the extended payment option the interest is 11% on top of that. on the plus side, it comes in handy if the dentist wants all the money upfront and you don't actually HAVE the money.

Oh wow. I thought I had contributed to every teeth thread ever.

I didn't go to the dentist for, like, 14 years. Basically as soon as they took the braces off and I went to college I just never went to a dentist, probably from a residual resentment of my creepy twin brother orthodontists.

When I went, about five years ago (because a tooth just broke into a zillion pieces while I was eating)I eneded up having four cavities (and fillings) and three root canals.

My wisdom teeth never came in and never became impacted, so I guess I lucked out.
I didn't get (wasn't offered) general anaesthetia for the root canals - just the basic huge needle filled with numbiness shot into four or five gum areas.
Oh and a crown for the shattered tooth.
I had it all done in a three or four month time period - so, I was at the dentists or the oral surgeons, once a week for many weeks.
it wasn't that bad! maybe I felt empowered by having it all done at once - like, I've been avoiding this for so many years, and now I'm really taking care of business!

I also had the palette widener, which actually has made my teeth more fucked up (and i will repeat - creepy twin brother orthodontists). My dentist(s) are always trying to get me to go to an orthodontist and get braces again.
I went, once, a few years ago, and the guy suggested breaking my jaw and re-setting it to get my teeth aligned. Uh...no. I mean, what the fuck - it's the twenty first century! Break my jaw?!
(Also, if something that drastic has to happen I would prefer going down after some gigantic brawl.)

So, not sure if any of this is helpful, but I didn't suffer all that much through the months of weekly fillings and/or root canals.

oh man i had kind of major emotional spaz yesterday b/c of profound realization of jaw misalignment issues which have become more pronounced in the past year but also come and go and have something to do with neuromuscular issue of some sort (involves some tmj pain and even intermittent numbness/drooping/crookedness of one side of face. fun! dumb.) so anyway i called a recommended orthodontist and they were like, well, since you're not a still-growing teenager and this is a jaw issue and not a teeth issue, then here's the number of the maxillofacial surgeon we work with. aaah! so i looked into it more and am going to try to avoid the major surgery on jaw route thanks... b/c it wld seem the misalignment actually gets better when i do yoga every day and exercise. which seems weird to me but hey. am going to see what accupuncture & chiropractic stuff do b/c wtf. also i am using my left hand on the mouse! it is weird
that is all

rrrobyn i feel you on all of that. tmj may be causing a bunch of problems for me, but nobody can really say for sure if it's tmj cause they don't KNOW very much about it and i would NOT trust any of them doing surgery on my jaw or my spine or whatever it is that's fucked up.

myosfacial pain is making me a really unpleasant person to be around these days.

Wow, that's really saying something! My chronic foot pain just makes me look like a whiny whimp for not wanting to walk places. :D

aw man :(
yeah i'm getting on it now b/c it's only going to get worse and also i've got a job with a decent insurance plan. and omg i had like 6 years of high-quality orthodontic treatment via braces and appliances etc when i was a teenager - my jaw should be perfect! so yeah wtf will re-align self in whatever ways possible
xpost
pain blows - i am all about doing anything to not have it. like dudes i am off the beer and the wheat and the sugar even.

see, beer is one of those things that i think helps more than it hurts :D

i am getting an MRI in like, one hour. if they can't figure out how to fix me after this i will be all over the alternative medicines.

my dentist appointment is in less than one hour. terrifying.

A cleaning or check-up or what? I can imagine you being terrified at a head-lice search.

cleaning & check up but i haven't been in 4-5 years. but i don't know what you are implying about my hygeine w/ the lice thing.

My grandmother went back to the dentist recently because some procedure they did a month or so ago was bothering her, and they told her she needed a root canal, so they started, and then the dude had to stop because it was more involved that he realized and he didn't have the right tools, so they sent her to the dental surgeon next door, and I'm not sure if that guy did anything or not but basically they can't finish until May 27th. Do WHAT?

so annoying. all dentisty goes like this unless you're rich. haha.

good luck BL. i always worry about dental appointments but the feel-good factor coming out the door after is one of the purest i've experienced.

Had a cleaning earlier this week. They said my teeth were in better shape than ever, which is nice.

My dentist always tells me that I have great teeth and that I really need to start flossing regularly. I figure why mess with a good thing?

they want me to do their job at home for free

And then charge me to check my work!

My filling fell out yesterday :(

I'm gonna ask for a gold tooth :)

oh that was fine. there is nothing wrong with my teeth besides the fact that they are all going to break off eventually if i don't get braces. but fuck no i am not getting braces.

ugh not flossing is gross, i mean, i didn't floss regularly when i was younger and some of my best friends don't floss, but i don't know why. i am total flossing advocate
xposts

i'm glad your dental visit was fine, l!
i wonder if you could get a retainer or that invisiline thing or something that is not braces? get a second opinion maybe?

Going to the dentist was always weird because my mom was my dental hygienist. Like, an hour before she was making me a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich cut into triangles like I like them, y'know, cuz she's mom, then suddenly she's dressed like a mad scientist and cramming painful esoteric machinery into my mouth.

Yeah I totally haven't had a check up in like 5 years and I have somewhat poor dental hygiene. Yeeeeesh.

The dentist started drilling my tooth without anaesthetic yesterday. Oww. Should I pay £350 to get a gold tooth that no one will be able to see? Or just stick to the standard crown for £198? Decisions, decisions.

I hate when they do that. "We can stop and give you anaesthetic if it gets too painful." Okay but by that point it will be too late! My sympathies.

Where is this tooth? And can you afford the gold tooth?

The standard crown will stay in place for longer.

do you mean a crown or a fillinf because thats a crazy cheap crown

filling

wait, how much for a filling? i pay about 75 euro per filling.

id expect a filling to be US$150ish and a crown/cap to be US$1200ish

NHS standard rate for a crown is £198! I thought it was way more. There are 4 payment bands for NHS treatment: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/Chiefprofessionalofficers/Chiefdentalofficer/DH_4138821

oh. so this is no cosmetic dentistry we're talking about here.

seriously, dont go with gold.

Nah, I don't think I will. I kinda want to get a new laptop instead. Plus a gold tooth won't really make me a pirate.

I'm having a gold crown fitted on a the NHS tomorrow.

fingers crossed.

I made my first appt. for a checkup since...um...maybe the first Bush administration. Bush 41. Possibly early Clinton years.

you'll be fine. you'll just have some cavities to fill, maybe a route canal or two. nothing could be so bad. just don't fuck up your gums, they hate that.

I just made my first appointment since 2005! Been flossing though.

i went for the first time in 3+ years a couple of weeks ago. no cavities, but they did do a whole hell of a lot of scraping.

ugh i hate that, and then all the blood :/

PS what's with all my girlfriends getting these caps when they were little? it's like, no wonder you never had any cavities. "sealants" or something. wtf is that, why did i never hear of that?

> they did do a whole hell of a lot of scraping

I anticipate the use of a circular sander.

i think i got sealants in my molars at some point in high school?

that prolly would've helped me in my chips ahoy or bust phase

i also have a cap over my front bottom tooth where my sister threw a rock at me and knocked it out (one of my first permanent teeth). it was all because i wouldn't let her listen to my michael jackson thriller album. i would shut my door and turn the volume on my turntable so low that i would have to lay my head right against the speaker (no headphones) to hear it. the rock was indoors because her 4 year old sunday school class had decorated them with felt & glitter to say "Jesus Loves Me".

That is a great story and needs to go in the mini family anecdotes thread.

i went this week to a new dentist. she is so hot, and so is the dental assistant. and i'm fucking sitting there with my mouth open, gums out, drooling all over the place.

you should have made your desire for them a little less obvious

bahahaha

It's been a good 4+ years for me. I'm finally seeing a student at OHSU day after tomorrow. I take good care of my teeth but they feel a little achy overall...