Toothy Update

I finally got to see the dentist today.
I only went in to tell them that the tooth had broken, and that I needed to get an appointment as soon as possible. Just so happened, they had just had an appointment broken by a patient right when I was at the counter, so I managed to get into the chair straight away! Luckily I'd brushed before leaving the house!

It appears that, despite the tooth breaking in half, it was still salvageable. I think he's just going to put a cap on it once the root canal is finished, so that is good news! Although... I was kind of getting used to having a gap (well, half a gap) in that spot - I was always having to grab the dental floss to pull out chunks of food that got stuck in between that tooth and the next. Blech.

For round two of the root canal, I had to have a dental dam placed over my mouth, and he had to use a little MRI-type thing to test the depth of the roots. It was a weird machine that played different tones depending on how far down the probe went, and it's the first time I've been asked if I had a heart condition while sitting in a dentist's chair!

He's put in another temp. filling over the tooth, only this time it's a pink one:

PS. The second-most-disturbing question from a dentist I've ever been asked:
"Er, do you normally take a long time to stop bleeding...?" True story!

Dentition Woes, con't

Okay, remember how I said I had to have part of a root canal done last month?

Well, it just got worse.
Last week, while I was sitting at the computer and eating a muesli bar, I suddenly realised that there was something else in my mouth that definitely wasn't chewy...
I spit out the half-chewed bar, and amongst the oaty-fruity stuff was this:

AAAAARGH!!!

I had a look at my tooth in the mirror, and found my mouth in this state:

Yes, THIS IS (or rather WAS) the same tooth that was halfway through the root canal!

[IMG="http://picture_of_money_flying_away.jpg"]
So far, I haven't been able to see the dentist yet (well, it has been the Xmas/NYE period, hasn't it?) but I will be going in to make an appointment as soon as possible.
It doesn't hurt or anything, and I'm not angry so much at the discomfort (or cost) as I am at the complete waste of time this has been! If I'd known that it would just go and break at the least convenient time possible, I would have had it pulled out weeks ago.
Oh, well. Shall keep you all posted.

Adventures in Dentistry

Well, I went for my latest dentist appointment today, and fortunately, I didn't have to have that troublesome tooth at the back removed - he just repaired the filling. Hooray!

The sad part is, I actually don't mind going to the dentist.
Not only because the people who work there are very nice, but also because I find all the procedures so damn fascinating. The injections, the needles, that strange blue laser-thingy...
Yes, I know. That is strange.

In fact, I was looking forward to my appointment today.
Not just because I had a gaping hole in my tooth, but because I didn't have to do anything but show up! It made a change from having to worry about what everyone else (eg. customers and staff) wanted from me. All I had to do was sit back and relax...
while he ripped huge holes into my mouth with a drill.

Yes, I know. Strange.

...work, garbage, holes in my teeth

Ugh. Busy couple of weeks coming up.

I have volunteered some time over at one of the other service stations for the next couple of weeks, which equals twenty-five hours over five days.
Okay in itself, except that I also have to fill in another sixteen hours over the weekends at my usual haunt. No weekends off. I get no days off until mid-October.
mutter grumble...

I bought myself another CD today, Garbage's self-titled album. I bought their Absolute Garbage compilation a few months ago, and so now I wanna get the back catalogue. (Well, I've run out of Beatles' albums to collect, so I gotta switch to something else.)

Also, I re-jiggered the colour scheme of the blog because my Ma thought it was all purpley, when it was supposed to be blue... not that it really mattered to anyone but me.

Oh, and the dentist found a hole in the wisdom tooth I mentioned in the last entry, but he couldn't do anything because his sterilising unit was out of action. He put in a temporary filling in the meantime, but it fell out three days later... and I won't be able to see him again until October sometime. mutter grumble...

That's all for now...

More Dental Problems

Today, while standing behind the counter at work, I felt around my mouth with my tongue, and felt something like a seed or a piece of food stuck behind my wisdom tooth...

I picked it out, and found it was a bit of tooth enamel.
Oh, god, not again! I just had that one fixed up a couple of months ago!!!
This probably means I will have to get it extracted, because there really isn't that much of the tooth left! It's mostly plastic filling now...

(insert image of $$$ flying away)

The only problem is, if I do get it removed, there is the risk of the nerve being damaged, because the last X-ray I had showed it was sitting very close to the nerve (which is why I didn't have it extracted before).
So, either I pay to have this new hole filled, or pay to have the whole tooth removed - which has the additional risk of injuring half my face.
DAMMIT!!!
So much for my dental hygiene... I guess I brought this on myself... mutter grumble...

What's Up This Week?

Aside from seeing my nephew in a play (see last post), I've done this stuff, in no particular order:

• I sent my Dad a Father's Day parcel, and hopefully he's got it by now... basically the same old stuff I usually send him, but it's usually well appreciated - at least I've never heard any complaints from him... :)
• I worked 20 hours over the weekend due to a serious lack of staff... most unfortunate, but this only happens very rarely I keep telling myself.
  
• I found a copy of Zork: Grand Inquisitor that just refuses to run. At all. mutter grumble...
• I also purchased a DVD-ROM burner drawer for the computer. After a bit of fiddling around with the master/Slave settings I managed to get it working just fine! at least SOMETHING I bought is working...
• I went and had more dental work done this week, to the tune of $250, entirely out of my pocket because I don't have private health cover yet. I have however paid up my Ambulance membership - I don't fancy paying over $1000 for an ambulance trip when it only costs me $60 to join.

One of the things I would like to do this week is attend my friend's 30th Birthday dinner, but, sadly, I can't thanks to my job. Oh well...
Happy 30th Birthday, Slink!
Hope you enjoy the new PS2 game, whatever you pick!