Teeth

[footpad]

When I brushed my teeth last night I spat blood, lots of it. This is a good thing: it means that whatever’s going on down there in my wisdom tooth, it’s leaking out rather than bottling up and abscessing under pressure

Comments

[crashworks]

You perceive them as disjoint groups?

[footpad]

Mercifully nearly so, but I did once go to a Portuguese dentist. He didn't use any anaesthetic, and my English dentist promptly took out everything he'd done and replaced it.

[footpad]

Rather as my Swiss dentist took out half the fillings my English dentist had done and replaced them. Sigh.

[megadog]

Think of your mouth as a profit-centre....

[shep_shepherd]

Ouch. I hope everything turns out to be okay. I have never had any problems with my wisdom teeth, but at 11 years old I had to have two upper premolars removed to make room for them...

[footpad]

I generally trust dentists, especially Swiss ones. I damn well should: I was born with faulty enamel (something to do with overenthusiastic antibiotic prescriptions during pregnancy, apparently), and it's only due to modern dentistry that I have a fang in my head at all, let alone a reasonably functional set of gnashers.

[shep_shepherd]

The only dental work I have ever had has been the work mentioned above. I don't even have fillings. Good fortune or diligent care? :)

[crashworks]

Dietary flouride and genetic phenotype.

[mattlazycat]

Wishing you a speedy and painless recovery. :)

[footpad]

Thank you. On the first, it's down to the skill of the dentist and I have few qualms in that regard. On the second... um... drugs...

Rambling thoughts Grampa simpson Style

[wolfgrowl]

When I was younger my parents took me to a hack dentist that would drill anything in my molars even when there wasn't any need for it. He would drill huge unstable fillings that eventually caused fractures etc. He would use one of those old drills that took forever, and he didn't use anesthetic. Talk about pain. Needless to say I was terrified of dentists

[footpad]

My goodness. Suddenly I realise how lucky I've had it.

My childhood dentist was nicknamed "The Butcher." She once used too little anaesthetic on my eldest sister and, when my sister said, "Iiiiit huuuurfff," the dentist stuck her scalpel into the other side of the gum and said, "Hurts more over there, doesn't it?"

For some reason The Butcher never took against me, and I probably suffered as little as was possible with the tools available to a poor practice of the time. And, as noted, it's entirely thanks to her that I didn't lose all my teeth by the age of twenty. Never mind that I test high for blood mercury from all the amalgam. :)

As well as the improved techniques over the years, it's clear that someone somewhere has put a huge research effort into pain-control in dentistry. Wherever they are, we all owe them hugs!

[footpad]

I floss as and when the mood takes me, i.e., rather seldom. This is probably worse than not doing it at all. It's troublesome, though, because my teeth are very closely set and it's difficult to get the floss between most of them.

I went to a dental hygienist about nine months ago and she gave me a good going-over, so the bacterial count under my gums probably isn't too gross.