Supposedly those lasers and ozone things work for “minor” cavities and certain types of cleaning. I hope one day to have such a cavity, so that I can get the chance to avoid the drilling/grinding process. My dentist has all those high tech gadgets, so I’m hoping that once I get past the “extreme” dentistry required to fix up my neglect I can perhaps benefit from these reduced stress techniques.

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.