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Second CrownI had very good dentures once. Some magnificent gold work. It's the only form of jewelry a man can wear that women fully appreciate. |
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Wednesday, July 21, 1999
I had my second crown put in today, the temporary crown for now. Dr. I--- and I have been working on this tooth for two years! First the oral surgeon did something about the gum when I had my wisdom teeth out, two years ago. I think I had a temporary filling for a long time. I finally had a root canal done last January, a necessary precursor to the crown procedure.
So I took the bus downtown to Dr. I----'s office. The receptionist noted that the claim to the insurance company for last month's cleaning appointment hadn't been paid, so she called them up. Yikes! I'm not on that plan, and haven't been since last December. I must call my agency right away, and find out what the deal is! But I decided to go ahead and have today's procedure anyway. It needs to be done, covered or not.
Today's work was a tough one for Dr. I----. The tooth, my number 2 molar, is the rearmost molar on the right (since my wisdom teeth aren't present), and my mouth is small, so getting access back there isn't easy. They had to try three times to get a good impression of the prepped tooth to send to the lab (for creating the permanent crown). She'd asked which I would prefer, gold or porcelain, but ended by saying that she'd leave it to the lab to choose. "Once it's in, I don't want to have to do this one again!" And I was OK with that.
So the whole thing took almost three hours, instead of the one and a half they had scheduled. This meant that Dr. I---- had to keep popping out to check other patients at various times. I was really surprised and amused when the administrator came back to assist with taking one of the impressions! The only thing funnier was when they used a cheek retractor and asked me to hold the end of it. That's really involving the patient in her own treatment!
I usually don't have too bad of a time at the dentist. I consciously try to relax my body all the time I'm in the chair, since tension can build up, uselessly, in my shoulders, arms and hands.
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I lunched at Westlake Center -- polenta with mushroom-tomato sauce, basil, and goat cheese (polenta is my latest food craving), and a large "black and blue" smoothie. I got the smoothie partly because the name amused me, and partly because the ingredients sounded good: blackberries, blueberries, with various juices and such, blended with sorbet. Both of these were from World Wraps. They have the option there of taking the ingredients that are in one of the wrap sandwiches, and serving them in a bowl, which seems very sensible to me. That's how I always order the large wraps that appear on the menu at work; "I'll have a Thai wrap, but don't wrap it, just put it on a plate, please!" I'm sitting at a table, not walking down the road, so I don't need a portable meal.
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I bussed home, I took more ibuprofen, and slept the afternoon away. It's always confusing, peeking at the clock and trying to sort out if it's morning or evening. When it was evening, I did a few loads of laundry in preparation for my jaunt to Portland this weekend, for the Portland Lindy Exchange.
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