The Dentist Office

[moonshadow]

So I've been seeing this practice in Abingdon for about 5 years now and I really like them. They have really turned my teeth around. When I first started seeing them my mouth was falling apart. I had already lost one molar, and had horrendous gingivitis. I couldn't brush my teeth at all without bleeding all over the sink.

Over the course of the following 5 years, I began seeing them twice a year for checkups, in addition to countless times between checkups to get cavities filled, and old fillings redone.

My teeth are moderately crooked, and there is some breakdown in the enamel of my front teeth that's been that way for years, not to mention tea stains that won't come off....

I wasn't much worried about having an attractive smile. I've never been one to worry over such vanity, besides, in Appalachia, bad teeth just kind of come with the territory. Only northerners and yuppies have nice teeth. No, I just wanted my mouth to quit putting me in agony every other month.

So I had two more fillings today, and that catches me up again. One on the bottom and one on the top.

The one of the bottom... oh my God... he removed an old filling, and I don't think he quite numbed it up as good as the top. I'm not sure what the hell he was drilling into, but a couple of times I about came out of that chair! I was worried about it being very sore once the numbness wore off, but I was pleased that that didn't seem to be the case. In fact, I notice that it doesn't hurt when I bite down like it used to...

Good times!

Something else I've noticed about this dentist office and I'm wondering if it's standard practice amongst dentist...

Once in a while he'll do some work on a tooth and it gives me some trouble, normally the bite has to be adjusted. Sometimes it just won't settle down after the work is complete. Those few times I've had to go in for some re-work, they never gave me a bill for the re-work.

Is this normal?

Why can't everyone in the medical industry do this?

I have dental insurance, but the straight up cash price for a filling is about $148. My share of this cost was $35. For this, the dentist spends about 30 minutes with me as well as his assistant. If this were a primary care doctor spending a half hour with me... the cost would be in the thousands... (according to my insurance EOB, for my annual checkup, which involves speaking to the doctor for about 5 minutes, a charge is generated for about $2500!)

What's the deal here? They're both doctors....

By the way.. my mouth hasn't bled from brushing my teeth in several years now!





I betcha Tom knows what all these things are! I sure don't....

[Fred in Skirts]

I do not like dentists (no offense Tom) and I have in my 75 years had several very bad experiences with dentists. Starting in my child hood and have never recovered from them. My family have what my Air Force dentist called soft teeth, the enamel is weak and decay runs rampant. Now I have only 5 teeth in my poor mouth and an upper plate that has never fit properly, so I very seldom wear it. So Moon if your teeth are now in good shape do your best to keep them that way.

[Kirbstone]

Fred,

Aw shucks....If in doubt, yank 'em out! I greet new patients with the info that I feel like doing a lot of extractions today and are they willing to volunteer?

Sets the tone, y'see.

Moon, I'm so pleased for you that you have found some honest and conscientious dentist who doesn't want to rip you off. I also see that you managed to snap off some pics inside the operatory. Not many patients would do that!

At my age I continue to work 5 days a week, not jam-packed, mind you. I couldn't do that anymore, but I do it because I enjoy it and love meeting people. I also enjoy a great relationship with my laboratory who are in Salt Lake City, Utah. Only slight problem there is the 8 hour time difference, so my banter with them is late evening here.

Tom

[Kirbstone]

Moon,

Pic 2, L-R: 3-in-1 syringe, air, water and air/water spray. Slow speed airmotor, High speed airroter, empty port... prob. for ultrsonic scaler, Far right, Geared slow speed airmotor.
Pic 1, Stuff for doing bonded composite light-cured fillings: Etching fluid, matrix band & clamp, Bite registration paper & holder, Curing light &c.

Attached: Orange theme pic. I certainly wouldn't greet you dressed like that!

Tom

[r.m.anderson]

Pix 1 missing ?

Yeah if I popped into my dentist office and I saw him wearing what you are wearing I would be afraid - I would be very afraid - scary.

Where is the traditional white or the new scrubs shades of blue or green (with blood spatter I might add - LOL) ?
And then that new look with the magnifying binoculars and the bright LED headlight.
Me thinks that new dentistry is mining for gold and finding new sources of thermometer mercury.

I remember back in '63 when I had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled - well two of them the other two were tough and thank goodness for the
introduction of that air drill instead of the belt driven thing out of a black smiths shop. The dentist used the air drill to quad dissect the
teeth into 4 parts and voila a very rapid extraction with minimal after effects other than the smell of burnt teeth.
Gad was that something rapidly cutting teeth into pieces with a water cooling spray keeping things cool and comfortable
and of course it did help immensely having that nerve deadening drug.

The dental profession has come a long long way - making crowns in about an hour and a whole mouth full of teeth in a day - no more
George Washington with wooden teeth as substitutes.

Thanks Kirbstone for making dentistry what it is more of a pleasant experience than a visit to the torture chamber of horrors but you
really have to something about the horrid Halloween colors !

[Kirbstone]

Thanks RM for your kind words.

Among the many wonderful developments to have come about in my practicing 'lifetime' are the tooth-coloured composites bonded at molecular level to both dentine and enamel to produce the routine restorations in everyday use world-wide now. Second is the cylindrical titanium implant, which has transformed how we can restore mutilated mouths to normal function again. Fortunately I was in the right place in the '80s (Eastman institute in London) to play a very small part in the development and introduction of both.

Because of my medical hat I tend to get to do most of the knife-and-fork work in our Practice. My philosophy, like your operator of yore is to destroy the offending tooth, not the patient, so I practice KKS, (Kirbstone keyhole surgery) and dissect very nasty wisdom teeth into constituent parts, elevating these out leaving the patient largely intact. To cap it all I tell the patients that I finish off lower wisdom extractions with stitches which tie the tongue to the cheek, known as tongue-in-cheek. This prevents them being able to complain about it afterwards

Oh, and Btw, when a filling fails for whatever reason within a couple of years or so of our doing it, our policy is to charge 'em double up front! That'll teach 'em !

Tom

[crfriend]

Among the many wonderful developments to have come about in my practicing 'lifetime' are the tooth-coloured composites bonded at molecular level to both dentine and enamel to produce the routine restorations in everyday use world-wide now.

That is, indeed, a remarkable technology, and vastly superior to the old amalgam bits that were in use for decades before.

A couple of years ago, I had an amalgam filling work its way out of a wisdom tooth which the original dentist was a bit too eager to hollow out. This made my recent dentist's job a bit harder as there wasn't much of the tooth left to bond anything to once the remaining rot had been scraped away. The general consensus was that the thing was going to have to come out at some point, but me being the sort I am don't generally act on invasive techniques if I'm not in any sort of distress. Then about a year ago I managed to spall off about a quarter of the remaining enamel leaving the "filling" exposed but intact, and that's not caused any trouble yet so I'm still waiting to make the final call to get the thing pulled -- which will likely cost me dearly as my "insurance" doesn't really cover anything.

Second is the cylindrical titanium implant, which has transformed how we can restore mutilated mouths to normal function again. Fortunately I was in the right place in the '80s (Eastman institute in London) to play a very small part in the development and introduction of both.

This is likely the answer in the 21st Century for those who have access to it or can afford to pay out-of-pocket for it.

You are indeed fortunate to have been in the right spot at the right time. That's serendipity.