AT LEAST I GET HAIR CUTS FOR FREE
I’m going to have cosmetic surgery! Actually to be more accurate I have to have cosmetic dental surgery, and I can’t say I’m thrilled about it.
Basically I had a long standing problem with one of my front teeth that was the result of a bike accident years ago. The tooth was broken at the root but this was not obvious from looking at it. After a few years it was decided to remove it and replace it with a crown. That procedure alone made me feel like I was falling apart I can tell you! But the crown didn’t look any different to my old tooth so it was all good.
That was until last year when the crown started to fail. After a few trips to the dentist to have it re-secured it was decided that I needed to have a dental implant, which as you can see in the gruesome illustration (on the right) involves screwing bits of carbon fibre into my jaw!
I’ve been putting this off for ages but today I had the preliminary stuff done in preparation for the surgery which will probably be done at the start of the new year. We have national healthcare over here so the crown and all the work relating to that only cost me $150, but unfortunately, would you believe, the upper four front teeth are not covered under the national dental-care, and even if they were implants are not covered. So this work is going to be 100% funded by me, and it’s set to cost $3500!!!
I can’t say I am excited about anything to do with this really, not the surgery nor the prospect of handing over such a whopper amount of money. But this is one of those things that has to be done. The silver lining in all of this is that the rest of my teeth are in superb condition according to my dentist. I’ve never had a filling or anything. Just typical that the first time something goes wrong with my teeth it would happen to be the most expensive thing possible. Ah well.
Is the surgery going to hurt? According to my dentist, who has his practice next door, it will be completely painless. They have a LCD screen mounted on the surgery room ceiling so patients can watch DVD’s while having treatments that take a long time such as this! Watching a movie while having stuff drilled into my head isn’t something that I can honestly get that excited about though, despite my dentists enthusiasm.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 30, 2005 at 6:08 am
“Watching a movie while having stuff drilled into my head…”
Hell…That’s a description of much of my first two years of medical school.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 30, 2005 at 6:27 am
I had my [badly impacted] wisdom teeth removed and didn’t feel a thing.. and let me tell you, they were chiselling, hammering, yanking, drilling… all kinds of horrendous things in my mouth, while I sat, wide awake.You’ll be ok.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 30, 2005 at 7:05 am
My Step Dad had a few of those put in and they put him to sleep during the procedure. I’d wanna be knocked out cold.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 30, 2005 at 9:24 am
Yeah, tooth stuff is never happy. Take comfort that it won’t be as bad as the story I’m about to tell you.
My dad had to have something drilled into his head as well. So the nice dentist decides to knock him out with a little local anesthesia (no LCD TV’s back then)… well, he uses penicillin, without either of them knowing that my dad is deathly allergic to it. Of course, my dad passes out, and the dentist doesn’t realize that my dad is going kind of blue from the lack of oxygen and not responding to any stimuli. So they race him to the hospital! After an hour or so, he’s okay, but imagine the fear! This all happened back in the 60s or 70s. I’m sorry to be telling you scary stories so close to your own surgery thing, but I promise you it won’t be this bad. This happened in Ecuador, not in an uber advanced country such as England. Plus, imagine my fear at almost not being born! I wasn’t conceived ’til the 80s! And maybe you can get a little nurse to take care of you after the whole ordeal ;-)
Wrote the following comment on Nov 30, 2005 at 5:23 pm
Whoa, a bionic tooth!! Can you tune in ESPN? For your movie be sure to pick a comedy to go along with the laughing gas!!! :) I had braces at 36. In order for that to take place I had to have two major teeth pulled and a special bracket made that had a wire attach from one side of my mouth to the other just below my pallet. I spoke with a lisp for the time I had the braces but the end result was much better. Here’s to the beginning of a great smile for ya’ Bud! :)
Wrote the following comment on Nov 30, 2005 at 7:48 pm
Hmmm…maybe you should take some of your own movies, eh? ;-)
Wrote the following comment on Dec 1, 2005 at 5:13 am
thats scary stuff. I hope you make it.
seriously.
Godspeed.
;-)
Wrote the following comment on Nov 30, 2005 at 11:23 pm
my dad’s a dentist. i wish he’d be hip and put in an LCD monitor. the closest form of entertainment he provides patients is singing songs he makes up about them on the spot.
Wrote the following comment on Dec 1, 2005 at 11:32 am
Yipes! That sounds right painful…whatever drugs they offer, take them!
Wrote the following comment on Dec 2, 2005 at 8:58 am
You know the funny thing is, they now use ultra high frequency sound to clean teeth at the dentist! How mad is that!
Wrote the following comment on Dec 2, 2005 at 6:46 am
the thought of this made me queazy. i have never had a cavity, or anything done other than cleanings…and i hate those. good luck.
Wrote the following comment on Dec 2, 2005 at 10:26 pm
i’m getting my dental implant done next year and dreading the idea… i also hate the ultra high frequency sound they use! freaky feeling i must admit