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So, a few weeks ago, my husband broke a crown. It was not just a simple matter of a crown that fell off and needed to be replaced; it had actually broken into several pieces and a new crown needed to be made and fitted. We didn't have a dentist at the time; he hasn't gone to one since he moved to the city, and I haven't been to one since I was about 8 years old (long rant about my mother that can be saved for another thread.) We do have dental insurance, so I logged on to our insurance's website and pulled up a list of dentists who are covered and in our area and picked the very first one on the list. Got an appointment for my husband, and for myself, since I had a broken tooth that wasn't really bothering me, but I knew it probably needed to come out, so I figured I'd get it taken care of.
So (this was about 6 weeks ago), I have my appointment and the dentist (we'll call her Dr. H) confirms that it needs to come out. "I can do it for you today, if you'd like, or we can make an appointment for it." Today? Sure, what the hell, I'd rather get it done than wait around thinking about it. It was one of my wisdom teeth on my right side, and it was broken and decayed to the point that it was almost level with my gum. As such, it took her about 15 minutes to dig it all out, but it didn't really hurt, aside from when she injected my gum with the numbing stuff, and even that didn't hurt too bad since they put a topical gel on the gum first to start numbing it before the injection. She was able to get it out without much problem, and I didn't even take the prescription pain killers they gave me afterword 'cuz it didn't hurt that much.
So, I went back a couple weeks after that for a cleaning and a general dental checkup. Dr. H saw me again and recommended that I should get the rest of my wisdom teeth out; the one that's a mate to the one she already took out wasn't going to do anything useful anyway, and the other two, while they came in perfectly straight, were starting to decay as well and would be difficult to clean. I also needed a number of fillings in various places in my mouth. So, I scheduled everything on the right side of my mouth to be done today, and everything on the left side to be done in 2 weeks, so that I wouldn't have to live on a liquid diet for a few days while my wisdom teeth extractions healed.
I had the fillings done first today. Again, the only thing that hurt was the actual injections to numb the mouth, and again, they used a topical gel to start numbing it first. My jaw did get a little sore after having been open so long (it took them about 50 minutes to do everything they needed to do for the fillings.) Then Dr. H passed me off to Dr. C, the owner of the clinic, to do the actual extraction.
I'd never met Dr. C before and was a little worried that I wouldn't like him as well as Dr. H -- after all, Dr. H had done such an amazing job on my last wisdom tooth, especially since it was so decayed, how could you get much better? Well, I sat down in the chair and laid back and Dr. C poked at my gum a bit; he wanted to check how numb I still was from the fillings.
"Numb here?" "Yup." "Here?" "Yup." "Feel that?" "Nope." "Okay, you're numb enough."
After that, I saw him start to reach into my mouth with a tool, so I closed my eyes; I don't really like to watch them sticking whatever they're sticking into my mouth. He pulled back after about 5 seconds, so I opened my eyes a bit and the nurse told me to bite down. "What is it?" "Just some gauze." Okay, I thought, why do I need gauze? Well, whatever.
Then they asked me to sit up. Now I was confused. "This isn't going to take as long as the fillings, right?" "Oh, you're done. The tooth is already out."
WTF!?
Seriously, after he poked at my gum to see if I was numb, he was in my mouth less than 10 seconds, and he got the tooth out in that time. Holy balls.
Apparently, Dr. C was a dentist in the army about 20 years ago, and to get his duties out of the way, he'd go in super early and pull wisdom teeth for the new recruits. So he got REALLY good at it. He's pulled thousands of wisdom teeth and can get all 4 out in less than 2 minutes. Mine was particularly easy since it wasn't impacted or crooked at all; it just popped right out.
On top of that, one of the nurses drove me home. We live really close to the clinic, about a mile away, so I just walked there since we only have one vehicle and my husband was at work. They didn't want me walking home, so one of the nurses drove me home.
My husband, BTW, is doing great too. They fitted him for his new crown a few weeks ago and he goes in on Friday to get it put on.
I seriously want to do something awesome for them for Christmas, because they have been amazing to us (especially me, since it's been so freaking long since I saw a dentist.) My mom suggested cookies or some other baked good, which I would be happy to do (and I'm an amazing baker) but, would it be appropriate to give sweets to a dentist?
So (this was about 6 weeks ago), I have my appointment and the dentist (we'll call her Dr. H) confirms that it needs to come out. "I can do it for you today, if you'd like, or we can make an appointment for it." Today? Sure, what the hell, I'd rather get it done than wait around thinking about it. It was one of my wisdom teeth on my right side, and it was broken and decayed to the point that it was almost level with my gum. As such, it took her about 15 minutes to dig it all out, but it didn't really hurt, aside from when she injected my gum with the numbing stuff, and even that didn't hurt too bad since they put a topical gel on the gum first to start numbing it before the injection. She was able to get it out without much problem, and I didn't even take the prescription pain killers they gave me afterword 'cuz it didn't hurt that much.
So, I went back a couple weeks after that for a cleaning and a general dental checkup. Dr. H saw me again and recommended that I should get the rest of my wisdom teeth out; the one that's a mate to the one she already took out wasn't going to do anything useful anyway, and the other two, while they came in perfectly straight, were starting to decay as well and would be difficult to clean. I also needed a number of fillings in various places in my mouth. So, I scheduled everything on the right side of my mouth to be done today, and everything on the left side to be done in 2 weeks, so that I wouldn't have to live on a liquid diet for a few days while my wisdom teeth extractions healed.
I had the fillings done first today. Again, the only thing that hurt was the actual injections to numb the mouth, and again, they used a topical gel to start numbing it first. My jaw did get a little sore after having been open so long (it took them about 50 minutes to do everything they needed to do for the fillings.) Then Dr. H passed me off to Dr. C, the owner of the clinic, to do the actual extraction.
I'd never met Dr. C before and was a little worried that I wouldn't like him as well as Dr. H -- after all, Dr. H had done such an amazing job on my last wisdom tooth, especially since it was so decayed, how could you get much better? Well, I sat down in the chair and laid back and Dr. C poked at my gum a bit; he wanted to check how numb I still was from the fillings.
"Numb here?" "Yup." "Here?" "Yup." "Feel that?" "Nope." "Okay, you're numb enough."
After that, I saw him start to reach into my mouth with a tool, so I closed my eyes; I don't really like to watch them sticking whatever they're sticking into my mouth. He pulled back after about 5 seconds, so I opened my eyes a bit and the nurse told me to bite down. "What is it?" "Just some gauze." Okay, I thought, why do I need gauze? Well, whatever.
Then they asked me to sit up. Now I was confused. "This isn't going to take as long as the fillings, right?" "Oh, you're done. The tooth is already out."
WTF!?
Seriously, after he poked at my gum to see if I was numb, he was in my mouth less than 10 seconds, and he got the tooth out in that time. Holy balls.
Apparently, Dr. C was a dentist in the army about 20 years ago, and to get his duties out of the way, he'd go in super early and pull wisdom teeth for the new recruits. So he got REALLY good at it. He's pulled thousands of wisdom teeth and can get all 4 out in less than 2 minutes. Mine was particularly easy since it wasn't impacted or crooked at all; it just popped right out.
On top of that, one of the nurses drove me home. We live really close to the clinic, about a mile away, so I just walked there since we only have one vehicle and my husband was at work. They didn't want me walking home, so one of the nurses drove me home.
My husband, BTW, is doing great too. They fitted him for his new crown a few weeks ago and he goes in on Friday to get it put on.
I seriously want to do something awesome for them for Christmas, because they have been amazing to us (especially me, since it's been so freaking long since I saw a dentist.) My mom suggested cookies or some other baked good, which I would be happy to do (and I'm an amazing baker) but, would it be appropriate to give sweets to a dentist?
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