Armed with my brand new dental insurance, I made my way down to the University of Michigan School of Dentistry to see my friend Jody. A couple of weeks ago we had our first meeting and she did a thorough check of everything in my mouth. And I do not use the words thorough and everything lightly, as the 3-hour-plus running time indicates. To be fair, it is a teaching clinic and many long stretches of the visit consisted of waiting around for instructors to come and check off everything that Jody did, which included all the usual poking and prodding, as well as taking thirty or so x-rays of my teeth. I actually didn't mind it taking so long because a lot can go wrong in 6 1/2 years and I wanted them to check everything.After the initial visit I went back last Friday for a regular cleaning. It turns out that the trust that I put my trust in my Sonicare, as well as the sporadic dental advice from my roommate Micah who is in dental school, was well-rewarded. Jody continuously remarked that she couldn't believe that my teeth and gums were in such good shape after so many years without any professional treatment. She also made many other comments during the visit that I wasn't sure how to interpret: apparently I have small but noticeable tori (look it up), I have a crazy-huge overbite (my bottom incisors make no contact whatsoever with my top incisors, which I didn't realize wasn't normal until then), and my first molars look that they have been swapped with my bicuspids. Jody kept telling me that I would be a fascinating case study, which I decided to take as an odd sort of compliment. Overall it was great to finally be back in the dentist chair after so long, and I would recommend Jody to all my friends and neighbors.
Turns out that I'm going to need to have two fillings, one of which is minor and can wait for another six months or more. The other cavity has been glaringly obvious to me for quite some time. This tooth has been a problem since 2000, when as a missionary I was innocently standing at the bus stop and a filling popped out, completely unprovoked. I went to two different dentists in Brazil and both of those fillings fell out too, so I just got used digging out all kinds of food and gunk out of the huge hole in the center of my tooth for the rest of my mission. As soon as I got home from my mission I got another filling, but it has never felt quite right and that tooth has continued to be a minor annoyance for several years.
Unfortunately my dental plan doesn't cover fillings at all, but fortunately there is a free community outreach dental clinic coming up in late March and I talked Micah into giving me a free filling there. And then in October there is another free dental clinic so I can take care of the other filling then. Until then I'm just waiting for a check from Sonicare for all this great advertising I've given them:
Sonicare -It's the new dental insurance!
4 comments:
I once went four years without going to the dentist. I was finally scared into going by a friend whose mission papers were delayed because she had so much dental work to get done after so many years without so much as a checkup. But I didn't have insurance yet and I had to pay for my visit out of pocket. I wish I had known about Sonicare. And I wish I had known about free dental clinics, because I had to pay for my two cavities out of pocket, too.
What I remember most about the experience, though, is that I actually really enjoyed going to the dentist my first time back. I had never before enjoyed going to the dentist.
And of course I blogged about it :).
When's the last time you replaced your Sonicare head? I know they're expensive (compared to regular toothbrushes) but it makes a big difference. Everytime I use a new one it affirms the fact the last one was worn and needed to be replaced.
I once went awhile without going to the dentist too. I can't remember how long it was but I think it was about two years (due to lack of insurance). I made up for it by double flossing though, don't worry :) Eventually I just caved and paid for a visit or two out of pocket. I had to pay for a filling too - it was the worst. But it felt good to have it taken care of.
This is the most boring comment I've ever left on a blog. Sorry.
Congratulations on your recent stroke of dental good fortune.
PS-I almost always buy our replacement heads on ebay. Check it out.
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