Dentists

Do you dislike going to the dentist as much as I?  

Many years ago I had a wonderful dentist, but in the late 1990s he had back surgery and found it too painful to continue working so sold his practice.  I'd gone to him for probably 15 years or more.  I didn't care for the new dentist-owner, and wanted to find one closer to home so switched to one nearby that a friend referred me to.

She was alright but after a couple years I needed a root canal and she was a bit aggressive and managed to break the tip of one of the tools deep into the canal...after extensive efforts by her and another specialist she referred me to, neither were able to extract the tip of the tool so it is entombed in my tooth's canal forever.  This ordeal was very off-putting and little or no discounts/compensation were ever given for having to endure the consequences, pain, and time involved in the process.  I know things can happen, but this was very traumatic.

I think I went back to her just once after that and was just not feeling the love, so decided to change dentists.  I was referred by an old acquaintance (reconnected on Facebook) who would travel over an hour to get to her dentist in my area because she felt he was the best.  Ironically, his office is in the same building, diagonally one door away from the lady dentist.  I have been very happy with him.  He is patient, uses far more of the latest & greatest tools, etc.  He explains exactly what he's doing all during the process.  And he plays 1960s music over the speaker system.  I'm just afraid he'll retire and I'll have to find yet another dentist.  He's just a couple years younger than I am.

Today's visit was my bi-annual cleaning, x-rays and general check-up.  I had been in a couple months ago for a replacement filling that went very well.  This time, it seems that a very old crown should be replaced.  Not that the crown itself is failing, but given its age (it was put on by that first dentist back in the late 1970s or early 1980s and had popped off once since then needing to be reseated) there's a gap at the edge of the crown where it covers the remaining part of the tooth at the gum, and he thinks it would be best to replace it with one that sits much lower to the gum, so that will be done on Wednesday morning.  

What's bothering me at this point is less about replacing the crown - I know they don't last forever but why are they so blasted expensive??   I have insurance that covers just over half but the half out of my pocket is almost as much as what we pay for a year's worth of property insurance.  And property insurance is due in a couple weeks...and Christmas is coming...it's the costliest time of year.  

As I was driving home, I was thinking how nice it would be to just be able to go to the dentist and have my two cleanings per year and be told "all is well, see you in six months".  Maybe I'm just at the age where dentists, doctors and insurance companies get more of my money than anyone else :/

On Tap For Today

Nope, no beer here ;p

Today's the second day of school for Nick.  When I picked him up yesterday I asked how it went, his reply "I don't want to be here." groan.  Though an excellent student, he has never 'enjoyed' going to school.  Sorry kid, it's one of life's necessities.

The guy who will be fixing Marty's attempt at spraying the ceiling and then doing the 'knockdown' will be here soon, so finally some progress on the quilt room - there's been none since Marty worked on it in July while I was on vacation.  The guy said it'd take 5 - 6 hours...he has to sand down some of what Marty had done before he can respray and then do the knockdown troweling.  I had Marty tape plastic within the door frame of the stash closet to 'hopefully' keep the dust out of my fabric because it would have been very difficult to empty the closet.

At 12:30 I have a dentist appointment, and have to have an old filling drilled and refilled due to a thin spot in the old filling that's developed a cavity.  Oh joy, I still have issues with dentists thanks to the one that left a piece of her drill so far down in the root during a root canal, that it had to be entombed - even a specialist couldn't retrieve it.  I lost count of the hours of sitting in the dentist chair with my mouth propped open and the amounts of numbing agents used.  PTSD anyone?  I like my new dentist very much, but still don't like even having them cleaned any more.

If there's time, I'll swing in at my Padawan's (my quilt student) to see how she's doing, even if only for a few minutes to chat.  I've missed meeting with her.  It's been since April or May due to various things.

And by then it'll be time to pick Nick up at school - these days are going to pass in a flash.  Due to Marty's layoff, and being home 24/7, I rather enjoy my alone-time outings of sorts.  But at home, there's also paperwork I need to gather and submit by the end of 90 days from his termination (since I handle all that type of thing), so now within the next 76 days it needs to get done.  Nothing promising on the employment scene yet, but remaining hopeful, and trusting the Lord.