As to the wonderful dental miracles technologies … I put those in the same category as colonies on the moon and mars, flying cars, household robots and transcontinental vacuum tube trains; the future they promised us as kids as some kind of cruel joke, while actually substituting killer astronauts in diapers, SUV’s, Microsoft, and airport security lineups as long as the flight searching for contraband shampoo.

I think we have the right idea now … promise the kids economic disaster and an environmental wasteland and they will consider almost anything a great improvement and be happy. Keep their expectations low. We have to quit promising pain free dentistry and start advertising agonizing dentistry. Heck, that might even attract the heavy tattoo / multiple major piercing crowd

I don’t do the dentistry thing for looks to any great extent: my teeth are not terribly well aligned, but they are close enough (other than my long-gone wisdom teeth) that I’m not that interested in taking on more discomfort. And when I was a kid, the idea of spending thousands of dollars on ‘optional’ dental work wasn’t going to fly- Mom never scrimped when it came to us kids, but there is only so much a single parent can do.

That said, I like fillings that match my tooth colour- that and the reduction of lead/silver/etc hanging around and leeching its way into my blood stream seems like a good idea. My crowns aren’t for prettiness: the teeth they are replacing were 50% or more filling, and in this latest case the remaining tooth had fractured and a piece had fallen out. They did offer me gold, but…you know, I just can’t see myself wit the whole ‘bling bling’ mouth thing going on. At $800 for the crown, though, I almost wish it was gold: I could yank it out if times got tough or something.

My one “cosmetic” thing was a tooth veneer on one of my front teeth: it fell off after about 8 years, and I might get it replaced some day. I have one of my upper front teeth that has weird little deformities- not cavitities, but the surface itself is pitted. The veneer was supposed to protect those from possibly developing cavities in the future. But veneers are generally perceived as being more cosmetic than preventitive, so there you go.

I was reading somewhere that a lot of the increase in grinding/scraping and the like comes from how much stronger our teeth are now as a result of flouride treatment. I’m not sure if I’m remembering it correctly, but it has a certain cosmic justice or something associated with it.

P.S.: the Dexamethasone is working great. The pain is mostly gone, and other than feeling a bit spacey/tingly, it’s a relief. Mind you, I was working all night through until 6:00 am, so the spacey/tingly effect may have nothing to do with the drugs If you ever have severe dental nerve pain, don’t say no to the Dexamethasone. It sounds like scary stuff to use over any kind of extended duration, but a week or so while waiting for the dentist (sorry…endodontist) should probably be fine. Especially in light of the reduction in pain killer use I’ve had: from 8-10 extra strength tylenol a day, plus a couple of tylenol 3s, to maybe two a day- I imagine this sort of balances out with the steroid side effects. Of course, your mileage may vary.

I guess they figure people will put up with pain as long as you tell them they look great afterwards. I wonder if the CIA torture guys have tried that one out “I say Abdul, have you lost weight? That waterboarding takes years off your face!”

And they sat the Barbarians are extinct.

I let the whole dentistry thing slide for seven years. I consider the current situation my punishment. The tooth being worked on was in bad shape to begin with. There just wasn’t much of it left to work with, so I can’t place any fault on the dentistry team for the result.

But was I afraid to go to the dentist? No, not really- I just hate the bother. It always seems to mean several days of interruption to my life: not that my life is particularly wonderful, but it’s what I have, and I like it the way it is. And the idea of paying money so I can spend several hours being uncomfortable, knowing that there is a good chance to be a period of pain after the work is done…oddly, the whole process doesn’t appeal.

My dentist seems to be pretty good- he explains a lot about what he is doing, shows me the X-rays, talks about the procedure and such. I like that: things like explaining that he was mixing the temporary crown cement with a small amount of vaseline to make it easier to remove for the endodontist helps me know what to expect.

But it is kind of tough to work up enthusiasm for repeat visits. I had the work done today at about about 9:00 am, and the freezing is still causing my face to tingle strangely. Nothing to worry about, I’m sure. I’m not a hypochondriac, but only because I’ve *trained* myself not to be. I push the worry away, compartmentalize it, and find something else to do. If I allow myself to, I’ll think the worst…and 99 times out of 100, it isn’t anything like the worst. But it does wear me down- the worry is still there, I’m just not dwelling on it.

And taking large (for me) quantities of painkillers causes my little world to be a bit oddly warped. Basically, everything is a little hazy, with odd sparkles around the edges. Strange tingles, off-kilter dreams. the usual tinnitus I live with becoming louder and more triumphant…it disrupts the normal chemistry of what I laughingly call a brain all to heck.

I can actually recall a time as small child when I didn’t mind going to the dentist or the doctor … it meant toys and chewing gum and stuff. But now I have full fledged white coat phobia … and I am NOT a guy that gets phobic easily.

Maybe you should just tie a string around it and tell Irene to give it a good yank