No Warranty on Dental Work
Permalink | September 5, 2008 by John in Dentist
I posted in August about a cracked tooth but didn’t followup. Turns out it was a big chunk of ceramic filling, not a piece of tooth. When did they start using ceramics? I didn’t get the memo, apparently. Explains the whole blue light pen curing process I suppose.
It also turns out that it’s a filling my dentist replaced last December. Anyway, I had it filled a few days later. Yesterday I got the bill. Yes, he billed me for a filling he screwed up. As far as I know the thing just fell out of my head. It’s not like I bit down on something hard and broke it. I’m a little perturbed but I doubt there’s anything I can do about it. I’m also not sure why this filling cost $219 while every other filling in the past two years was $139.
Yep, It’s a Monday
Permalink | August 4, 2008 by John in 2002 TBA, Dentist, ShelbyDakota
- At lunch a large filling that must’ve fractured recently came off one of my molars. Saw the dentist and it’s one of his from last December when he replaced a much older filling.
- The transmission shop called and the Shelby’s transmission is in bad shape and needs to be rebuilt to the tune of $1600. Based on my research online this is pretty typical.
- The drive belts for my bike are currently backordered 6-9 months. Either I can live with the squeak or go Harley (again) for $50 more.
That’s the hat trick. Thank you and good night!
JAWS (The Villain, not the Shark)
Permalink | June 11, 2008 by John in Dentist, Of a Personal Nature
My mouth is just chock full of metal. I had my Spring checkup a couple weeks ago and they found that another ancient filling had cracked on the upper left side, and a tooth on the upper right was chipped and acting as a “food catcher.” And catch food did it ever. I’ve been amazed at the chunks my floss had been pulling out of that hole.
I don’t know what the hell is going on. I haven’t changed my dental hygiene habits in years, and shit just be fallin’ out my mouth over the past year or so. Last April I had two fillings go bad, then last November I had two more go bad and had a new cavity to boot. I guess I gotta step it up in the bathroom.
Waiting for Strike Three
Permalink | November 23, 2007 by John in Dentist, Household
“Whole f***ing world’s against us dude, swear to God.”
I’m not the superstitious type, but I’m starting to wonder if a third strike is waiting in the wings.
Strike 1: Went to the dentist for my semi-annual checkup and cleaning. Good news? The cleaning took about 5 minutes. Bad news? Two of my old fillings have cracked and I have a new cavity. Not sure how all those factors, great hygiene and three cavities, came about at the same time. I guess even when flossing and brushing regularly shit happens.
Strike 2: Last night my furnace died. I woke to a house below 50 degrees. Fenske came over and near as we can tell the fan motor is toast. The thermostat, pilot light, controller, etc. all seem to check out. Naturally this happened on Thanksgiving weekend when not a single HVAC business is open. So I just got back from the rental store with three small electric space heaters.
Strike 3 (speculation): I’m thinking a water pipe might burst due to #2. Just throwing that out there. Or maybe the head gasket will blow in the Golf. Or one of the space heaters will catch on fire. Actually, that’s not a bad thing if I can get me, the dogs and my backup hard drive out safely, and the garage doesn’t catch. I could start from scratch. Hmmm, Maybe I should put that ultra-rare Thunderbird Sport wheel out in the garage, just in case. Of course, if that did happen I’d be screwed now that I’ve mentioned it here.
I have no idea if I’m going to be able to have the fan in the old Lennox (probably 20-22-ish years old–the manual is dated 9/85) replaced for a smallish sum of money, or if I’m going to have to bite the bullet and finance a brand new furnace. If I can do the former it will buy me some time until the Summer when I can tear out the floorboards (water damage from various other problems) and do it all up right.
Dental Paradigm Reversal
Permalink | April 19, 2007 by John in Dentist, Ranting and Whining
Did I miss a memo? It’s been a few years since I had any drilling done at the dentist’s office. Today I had two fillings replaced. The needle and the drill, often the most feared and anxiety-making part of the process, were a breeze. A little topical anesthetic, needle goes right in, no problem. I think the anesthetic itself must be improved. I remember getting occasional little spikes of pain while the drilling was going on because the Novocaine didn’t “take” 100%. None of that this time.
The filling process, on the other hand, sucked ass. A big wedge to pry the gum out of the way, a big clamp around the tooth, toxic-smelling filling material (I still have a whiff of that crap in my nostrils), etc. And they cure the fillings with light, blue light. I remember the blue light from the last time but it still freaks me out. Then there was scraping and shaping and grinding to get the filling to the right shape.
Then I get back to work and I’m sipping on my now cold mocha, and my right upper lip is feeling swollen. Initially I dismiss it, assuming it’s part of the numbness. But then I start feeling around and sure enough, the dentist left a big ol’ chunk of gauze in my upper lip. That’s great…
Comments Off