Another teeth-related post
Jan. 27th, 2003 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanpaku_backupEveryone knows the cycle. You don't like to go to the dentist, because they make you bleed, then they find something and do something painful to you, then they warn you about what's likely to happen if you don't shape up. So you avoid the dentist. It's simple negative conditioning. Except that when you don't go to the dentist, the bad things will only get worse. Everyone knows this. I know this. But now I am trying to get the image of seeing my own bloody effluvia all over the metal hook. (There are two kinds of dentists; today I got the kind that uses the suction and not the spittoon. Boy, did I miss being able to rinse once in a while.)
So the morning was an exercise in confirming that you should go to the dentist more than once every four or five years. Ringing in my ears right now: "Bone loss is something that most people only notice when it's too late." The whole gum thing. It's aggravating because they took a whole bunch of X-rays and I guess wanted to shoo me out the door because they said they wouldn't discuss them with me until my next visit. "It could just be a matter of you having to come in more often."
My next visit won't be too long in coming, however -- I have two cavities in my upper right back teeth, between the two of them. I have to ponder whether to go in today at 3:30 to get it over with, or wait a week and a half.
UPDATE 11:45: I decided to go in this afternoon. Novocaine will be involved. Argh.
So the morning was an exercise in confirming that you should go to the dentist more than once every four or five years. Ringing in my ears right now: "Bone loss is something that most people only notice when it's too late." The whole gum thing. It's aggravating because they took a whole bunch of X-rays and I guess wanted to shoo me out the door because they said they wouldn't discuss them with me until my next visit. "It could just be a matter of you having to come in more often."
My next visit won't be too long in coming, however -- I have two cavities in my upper right back teeth, between the two of them. I have to ponder whether to go in today at 3:30 to get it over with, or wait a week and a half.
UPDATE 11:45: I decided to go in this afternoon. Novocaine will be involved. Argh.
