Oh, I'll be very happy when the work is done. I've been having to favor the right side of my mouth for about a year because if I bite too hard on that side (where the existing crown was), I could feel the twinge. If all goes as planned, once I have a new crown on that tooth after the specialist finishes the actual root-canal work, I'll be just about good as new. And I have no problem with getting a new gold crown on that back tooth. Gold is best for these things in my opinion, especially on back teeth where you can't see it.
I was mostly raised by my grandparents, who were from rural Arkansas and didn't get decent dental care. My grandmother had lost all of her teeth and my grandfather most of his when relatively young. I vowed that I did not to have that happen to me. I want to keep all of my teeth (except the wisdom teeth that were removed when I was 15 when they got impacted).
I've never been allergic to dentistry. Back my college days, there was a period of about seven uninsured years where I didn't see a dentist, and when I was insured again and got my first appointment, the resultant cleaning was ugly. I was lucky to have only three cavities. The dentist apologized for the blood caused when he chipped off all of that plaque. I told him, "It's not your fault; it's mine. Thanks for doing the best that you can." Since then, I've been reasonably good (except during two one-year unemployment stints) about seeing the dentist regularly. It helps that I have an excellent dentist who I would happily recommend to anyone in the Bay Area (Dr. Anthony Ferrer, Redwood Shores)
Yesterday, though, I was in considerable discomfort and trying to figure out how, with a mouth full of dental instruments, I could communicate "It's getting difficult to breathe unless you give me a chance to cough out the congestion that's rattling around my windpipe!" I reckon that if it had gotten any worse, I would have started choking and they would have had to do something. I use a prescription nasal spray before bedtime to combat my sleep apnea by keeping my sinuses clear. I think I'll take a shot of it next Thursday before my next appointment, so I can breath more easily.
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I was mostly raised by my grandparents, who were from rural Arkansas and didn't get decent dental care. My grandmother had lost all of her teeth and my grandfather most of his when relatively young. I vowed that I did not to have that happen to me. I want to keep all of my teeth (except the wisdom teeth that were removed when I was 15 when they got impacted).
I've never been allergic to dentistry. Back my college days, there was a period of about seven uninsured years where I didn't see a dentist, and when I was insured again and got my first appointment, the resultant cleaning was ugly. I was lucky to have only three cavities. The dentist apologized for the blood caused when he chipped off all of that plaque. I told him, "It's not your fault; it's mine. Thanks for doing the best that you can." Since then, I've been reasonably good (except during two one-year unemployment stints) about seeing the dentist regularly. It helps that I have an excellent dentist who I would happily recommend to anyone in the Bay Area (Dr. Anthony Ferrer, Redwood Shores)
Yesterday, though, I was in considerable discomfort and trying to figure out how, with a mouth full of dental instruments, I could communicate "It's getting difficult to breathe unless you give me a chance to cough out the congestion that's rattling around my windpipe!" I reckon that if it had gotten any worse, I would have started choking and they would have had to do something. I use a prescription nasal spray before bedtime to combat my sleep apnea by keeping my sinuses clear. I think I'll take a shot of it next Thursday before my next appointment, so I can breath more easily.