i have not been to a dentist in probably 10 years

rrrobyn i feel you on all of that. tmj may be causing a bunch of problems for me, but nobody can really say for sure if it's tmj cause they don't KNOW very much about it and i would NOT trust any of them doing surgery on my jaw or my spine or whatever it is that's fucked up.

myosfacial pain is making me a really unpleasant person to be around these days.

Wow, that's really saying something! My chronic foot pain just makes me look like a whiny whimp for not wanting to walk places. :D

aw man :(
yeah i'm getting on it now b/c it's only going to get worse and also i've got a job with a decent insurance plan. and omg i had like 6 years of high-quality orthodontic treatment via braces and appliances etc when i was a teenager - my jaw should be perfect! so yeah wtf will re-align self in whatever ways possible
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pain blows - i am all about doing anything to not have it. like dudes i am off the beer and the wheat and the sugar even.

see, beer is one of those things that i think helps more than it hurts :D

i am getting an MRI in like, one hour. if they can't figure out how to fix me after this i will be all over the alternative medicines.

my dentist appointment is in less than one hour. terrifying.

A cleaning or check-up or what? I can imagine you being terrified at a head-lice search.

cleaning & check up but i haven't been in 4-5 years. but i don't know what you are implying about my hygeine w/ the lice thing.

My grandmother went back to the dentist recently because some procedure they did a month or so ago was bothering her, and they told her she needed a root canal, so they started, and then the dude had to stop because it was more involved that he realized and he didn't have the right tools, so they sent her to the dental surgeon next door, and I'm not sure if that guy did anything or not but basically they can't finish until May 27th. Do WHAT?

so annoying. all dentisty goes like this unless you're rich. haha.

good luck BL. i always worry about dental appointments but the feel-good factor coming out the door after is one of the purest i've experienced.

Had a cleaning earlier this week. They said my teeth were in better shape than ever, which is nice.

My dentist always tells me that I have great teeth and that I really need to start flossing regularly. I figure why mess with a good thing?

they want me to do their job at home for free

And then charge me to check my work!

My filling fell out yesterday :(

I'm gonna ask for a gold tooth :)

oh that was fine. there is nothing wrong with my teeth besides the fact that they are all going to break off eventually if i don't get braces. but fuck no i am not getting braces.

ugh not flossing is gross, i mean, i didn't floss regularly when i was younger and some of my best friends don't floss, but i don't know why. i am total flossing advocate
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i'm glad your dental visit was fine, l!
i wonder if you could get a retainer or that invisiline thing or something that is not braces? get a second opinion maybe?

Going to the dentist was always weird because my mom was my dental hygienist. Like, an hour before she was making me a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich cut into triangles like I like them, y'know, cuz she's mom, then suddenly she's dressed like a mad scientist and cramming painful esoteric machinery into my mouth.

Yeah I totally haven't had a check up in like 5 years and I have somewhat poor dental hygiene. Yeeeeesh.

The dentist started drilling my tooth without anaesthetic yesterday. Oww. Should I pay £350 to get a gold tooth that no one will be able to see? Or just stick to the standard crown for £198? Decisions, decisions.

I hate when they do that. "We can stop and give you anaesthetic if it gets too painful." Okay but by that point it will be too late! My sympathies.

Where is this tooth? And can you afford the gold tooth?

The standard crown will stay in place for longer.

do you mean a crown or a fillinf because thats a crazy cheap crown

filling

wait, how much for a filling? i pay about 75 euro per filling.

id expect a filling to be US$150ish and a crown/cap to be US$1200ish

NHS standard rate for a crown is £198! I thought it was way more. There are 4 payment bands for NHS treatment: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/Chiefprofessionalofficers/Chiefdentalofficer/DH_4138821

oh. so this is no cosmetic dentistry we're talking about here.

seriously, dont go with gold.

Nah, I don't think I will. I kinda want to get a new laptop instead. Plus a gold tooth won't really make me a pirate.

I'm having a gold crown fitted on a the NHS tomorrow.

fingers crossed.

I made my first appt. for a checkup since...um...maybe the first Bush administration. Bush 41. Possibly early Clinton years.

you'll be fine. you'll just have some cavities to fill, maybe a route canal or two. nothing could be so bad. just don't fuck up your gums, they hate that.

I just made my first appointment since 2005! Been flossing though.

i went for the first time in 3+ years a couple of weeks ago. no cavities, but they did do a whole hell of a lot of scraping.

ugh i hate that, and then all the blood :/

PS what's with all my girlfriends getting these caps when they were little? it's like, no wonder you never had any cavities. "sealants" or something. wtf is that, why did i never hear of that?

> they did do a whole hell of a lot of scraping

I anticipate the use of a circular sander.

i think i got sealants in my molars at some point in high school?

that prolly would've helped me in my chips ahoy or bust phase

i also have a cap over my front bottom tooth where my sister threw a rock at me and knocked it out (one of my first permanent teeth). it was all because i wouldn't let her listen to my michael jackson thriller album. i would shut my door and turn the volume on my turntable so low that i would have to lay my head right against the speaker (no headphones) to hear it. the rock was indoors because her 4 year old sunday school class had decorated them with felt & glitter to say "Jesus Loves Me".

That is a great story and needs to go in the mini family anecdotes thread.

i went this week to a new dentist. she is so hot, and so is the dental assistant. and i'm fucking sitting there with my mouth open, gums out, drooling all over the place.

you should have made your desire for them a little less obvious

bahahaha

It's been a good 4+ years for me. I'm finally seeing a student at OHSU day after tomorrow. I take good care of my teeth but they feel a little achy overall...

hey people in the US/AUS,

if you need a lot of dental work done, like over $1000, we have found a really good dentist here in Cusco (Peru). A round trip for two weeks from the US is around $700. I just got a new crown for $80 (!) and three fillings for $100. That would have been around $1200 from my dentist in the states. So even with the plane ticket you come out ahead.

that actually sounds kind of fun. take a vacation to peru, get all your dental work done and then blow the money you saved on a good time.

that's what I'm sayin! I'll be happy to give the info to any interested parties, the dude is a total professional.

wehre did he go though, peru dental school?

looks like it, yeah. he's got a bunch of diplomas etc on his wall.

my gf is there right now getting two new crowns put in.