Dentacity

[altivo]

Spent the whole morning at the dentist's. As I expected, the 45 mile drive to get there in rush hour traffic was decidedly not fun. I really dislike being abused for holding my speed down close to the posted speed limit.

New high tech stuff at the dental offices, though. Since two years ago, they've converted to digital x-rays. She said the radiation level is half what was required for conventional film, and the image is instantly available on the computer screen. Sure enough, the four shots they took appeared on the overhead monitor as well (the one they usually have Cartoon Network or Oprah showing on to keep bored patients amused.) She replaced an old silver amalgam filling that was getting loose with a new composite epoxy resin stuff. It smelled weird and they used tiny ultraviolet lights to cure it, but it's invisible on the tooth when done. Seems odd that there is no longer a metal filling in that tooth when I look in the mirror.

Also a new anesthetic technique. This, I gather, was the same drug but a different injection site. She used less of it, the effect took hold more quickly, and wore off faster. I can't complain about that. Normally they had to use so much that half my face would be dead for hours.

On the whole, I'd rather go to work than have the day off and go to the dentist, but compared with what it was like when I was a foal, things are much easier and certainly less uncomfortable.

Usual chores otherwise. Boxes are arriving by mail with the various gifts I've ordered for people. Still need some things for Gary's family members, though. Looks like Sunday is the last good chance to settle that. I went out for about an hour this afternoon, but didn't find much. It's easier if I have him along to advise.

Comments

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

My dentist has that now too. I knew they've had digital dental x-ray machines for years, but my dentist seemed to be a traditionalist and kept using film. I guess he finally gave in and made the switch (I can't even guess what that must have cost). It was interesting to be able to see the results instantly. They also have a fiber-optic camera that they can stick in your mouth to give real-time images of anywhere in the mouth. That seemed pretty neat and useful too.

I would have been happier if the end result hadn't been a crown, but I'm happy that I have a good dentist, or else I'd be either gumming my food or using dentures by now.

I have the same problem with the speed limit. I don't poke, but I generally go the speed limit when I'm not in a rush, or maybe 5 over if I've got traffic, but I find myself constantly being pushed down the road by tailgaters who don't see anything wrong with doing 65 MPH in a 40 MPH zone. What the heck is wrong with people, and what the heck is everyone rushing to? Maybe it helps that I have a government job and I'm not hostage to a time-clock or an obnoxious toe-tapping boss, but still, on the way home, it's the same thing, and driving anywhere during the day for work in huge orange truck, people go screaming past me doing 75 or 80. You're supposed to slow down to 40 MPH on the approach to the toll booth, and a couple of people passed me doing 70...seriously, where are you going? You have to stop anyway.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm sure it's a costly switchover, upgrading that sort of equipment. She charges close to the "accepted" rate that my insurance will pay, so it has to be a thing that gets paid off over a number of years.

I never have understood the speed thing with drivers. The maximum speed on any road in Illinois is 65, so they drive 80 or more. And believe me, the design of the roads and the usual condition they are in as a result of heavy trucks is such that 80 is really dangerous. Where the posted limit is the more usual 55, they still drive 70 a lot of the time and rarely under 65. But then I've never been attracted by speed of any sort. Racing eludes me. The noise of internal combustion engines and the stink they make irritates me. Probably why I'm just as happy never getting on an airplane, too.

I did see four cars stopped by state police in one stretch of the interstate, so there's some effort at enforcement going on. Unfortunately, they just pay their fines and keep doing it. The odds on getting actually caught are astronomical.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

As far back as I can remember, the running joke in Georgia is that the posted highway speed limit is only a suggestion, because it was rarely (if ever) enforced. Last week it was announced that anyone caught going over 85 would get an automatic $200 added to their speeding fine. They seem pretty serious about it. On the 9-mile stretch of highway I drive every day (hwy 400, aka the Georgia Autobahn) there have been numerous speed traps keeping the officers busy.

The epoxy resin stuff has been around since the late 80's. When I was a senior in high school I had my braces removed and my dentist found a cavity forming on the front of my upper front tooth. He used the epoxy stuff to fill it and to this day I still can't see where it is.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she has used the epoxy stuff before, but only on a front tooth, never to replace old metal fillings in back teeth.

I hate driving in Georgia too. In fact, when my folks were still alive and living in Florida, I eventually changed my route to get there so that I went through Alabama instead. Conclusion? Georgia restaurants have better food. Alabama has fewer insane drivers or else better speed enforcement. Passing through Atlanta on I-75 was always an experience that gave me nightmares.

Georgia also provided me with the only police traffic stop I've ever had. A hick sheriff's deputy in Dooley Co. stopped me "for failing to use a turn signal when changing lanes" and tore the car apart looking for drugs, of which there were none of course. I received no apologies for the ransacking or for making me stand out in January temperatures without a coat for 20 minutes. The contents of my suitcase and backpack were strewn all over the back of the car. My guess is he profiled me for having long hair and Illinois plates. That's when I decided never to spend another penny in Georgia, and for many years I kept that promise.

[alaskawolf.livejournal.com]

i remember when i used to be afraid to go to the dentist but with their better anesthetic technique its a whole lot better

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's nothing like what it used to be, especially way back in the 50s when I was a kid. A dentist visit was sheer torture then.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

My dentist is minutes from where I work, happily. Been going there for 47 years (my original dentist retired at about 75, and this is one of his latter associates who runs the business now).

I always opt for the nitrous, although in recent years I have accepted the Novocain as well. My teeth are unsightly, a side-effect of tetracycline as an infant, but metal, crowns, and staining aside, it's just nice to have them all!

And, of course, a decent dental plan is essential: I could never have afforded two root canals and necessary crowns, otherwise :o{

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I haven't encountered nitrous oxide at the dentist since the 70s. I don't know whether Illinois actually outlawed it or it was just the bad reputation it had for being abused. My limited experiences with it were that it did nothing to suppress pain, though.

The most interesting dental anesthesia I've had was back in the 60s. A dentist I used to go to in Plymouth, Michigan used a system called "Audio Analgesic" that was in essence a high powered stereo with a white sound generator added. Both patient and dentist wore headphones. The patient was given a remote control box with two knobs. One controlled the volume of the music, the other could inject white noise into the mix at higher and higher volume levels. The theory was that pain nerves from the mouth share a connection with the auditory nerve, and that high sound levels can override oral sensitivity. It did work, sort of. He still used novocain for some things, but the sound distraction did help overcome the discomfort of the drill. My mom had a tooth extracted using just the audio system and claimed it actually worked for that too. The dentist wore earphones so he could tell if you jumped the volume or the white noise level up and know that he was hurting you. Probably that helped too. The music was provided from a selection of tapes in an odd eight inch cassette format, and they had a little menu you could choose from, with everything from rock to show music to country to classical.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Nitrous doesn't deaden my pain, it just seems to shift my distractable focus from it.

I never heard of that audio method: was Inagodadavida one of the choices? :o)

One of our dentists, back in the 50's, tried hypnosis on my sister with very bad results- she wouldn't go back to a dentist for years after that.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I had a tooth pulled with nitrous when I was about six. The weird hallucinations it caused gave me no desire to repeat the experience.

The dentist I went to for a while in the 70s used it as a matter of course though. They called him "the disco dentist" because he played disco music in his offices. Can't say I remember that very fondly either.

Nope, the Audio Analgesic system was too early for Inna Godda Davita or however it's spelled. Think Chuck Berry, Elvis, and Johnny Cash.

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'd trust epoxy fillings. Amalgam usually lasts a very long time; I think some of my fillings are around 25 years old and they were still in good shape at my last dental exam.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There are supposedly issues with amalgam though. One is gradual leaching of mercury, which is not a good thing. And I've never cared for the electrical effects when combined with tableware containing copper or some other things.