of Dentists and Eye exams
So at the beginning of the year I fractured a tooth. I managed to get a quick appointment for an examine at a local dentist on my new dental plan; unfortunately, it turns out that 1) the dentist at the office I’m seeing is relatively new and 2) instead of a piping in radio music, they have a tv in every examination room. The first visit I got to have 18 x-rays and my gums poked and prodded as part of a thorough exam, accompanied by The Young and the Restless (and how did I know what soap opera I was being subjected to, you ask? I recognized the actors playing Victor and Nickie. From 1983, when I last watched the soap…..) The conclusion was that I would need a crown, maybe a root canal, for the broken tooth, but otherwise I was in great shape, dentally speaking. So, Friday I went back for the prep and buildup. 2.5 hours later {during which I had to watch Oprah, The Rosie O’Donnell Show (formerly known as The View) and the news} I had a temporary amalgam and a new appointment for a repeat, as two different build ups had come out. If they can’t get a buildup done next time, I get to have a root canal instead. Oh, joy. It took 2 shots of Novocain to numb me enough to work, and they didn’t use laughing gas despite my previous request to do so. Admittedly the Novocain did numb me sufficiently, but being on the gas would mean that I wouldn’t care when my jaw locked up from holding it open for 2+ hours, or when the novocain started wearing off, or even that I was being subjected to daytime tv….. Anyway, this is at least 2 more appointments, possibly three, and I still need a cleaning. I think I’ll find a different dentist for the cleaning, because frankly, weekly dental appointments during which I’m forced to watch daytime tv closely approximates my idea of hell!
Saturday I went to Lens Crafters for an eye exam, and found myself needing reading glasses. I think I’ll be finding out who else is on my new eye plan (yes, they changed a lot this year) as that too was a nightmare and a half. They are *very* disorganized; from the time I arrived to the exam, to when I left with the glasses, was over 4 hours; one hour of that was the actual ‘make the glasses’ timeperiod, during which we got lunch. At least an hour of that was waiting around /grumble I’m also not happy with the glasses; I prefer thin metal frames, and the optician was quite insistent that I needed thicker frames, and kept steering me towards thick plastic frames. I’m still trying to understand why reading glasses would need to be thicker frames then my usual glasses… At any rate, they don’t fit correctly (too loose) and I hate the look, so I will definitely be taking advantage of the 30 day return policy. I originally opted strictly for reading glasses, as I mostly need them while crocheting. Still, I noticed when I worked on my laptop that they really helped there too, so I’m testing them with standard day-to-day work on my usual work monitor, trying to decide if they are better/worse/indifferent in comparison to my normal glasses. If I decide that that too would benefit from the reading glasses I might break down and opt for bifocals/progressives after all - if nothing else, it would facilitate crocheting while watching tv, which the reading glasses would not do.
Saturday I went to Lens Crafters for an eye exam, and found myself needing reading glasses. I think I’ll be finding out who else is on my new eye plan (yes, they changed a lot this year) as that too was a nightmare and a half. They are *very* disorganized; from the time I arrived to the exam, to when I left with the glasses, was over 4 hours; one hour of that was the actual ‘make the glasses’ timeperiod, during which we got lunch. At least an hour of that was waiting around /grumble I’m also not happy with the glasses; I prefer thin metal frames, and the optician was quite insistent that I needed thicker frames, and kept steering me towards thick plastic frames. I’m still trying to understand why reading glasses would need to be thicker frames then my usual glasses… At any rate, they don’t fit correctly (too loose) and I hate the look, so I will definitely be taking advantage of the 30 day return policy. I originally opted strictly for reading glasses, as I mostly need them while crocheting. Still, I noticed when I worked on my laptop that they really helped there too, so I’m testing them with standard day-to-day work on my usual work monitor, trying to decide if they are better/worse/indifferent in comparison to my normal glasses. If I decide that that too would benefit from the reading glasses I might break down and opt for bifocals/progressives after all - if nothing else, it would facilitate crocheting while watching tv, which the reading glasses would not do.