Dental Work

**pluckyduck** · #1 11-10-2002, 09:46 PM

I can't decide if that thread title is going to lose me readership, since who wants to read about dental work, or gain me a whole lot of sympathy.

Tomorrow, Dental Work in Earnest begins.

Been putting off major stuff for W-A-Y too long (funny thing with dental work, the more you put off the major stuff the more major the major stuff gets)

Short version of a life long story, I'm off to the oral surgeon tomorrow. General anesthesia. Then my regular dentist gets to work his magic......

I have all the appointments lined up. Don lined up the financing (it was either this or a Jaguar and I'm barely exaggerating.

Argh. I hate this. I don't which part I'm more phobic about, the money or the work, but I'm certainly not happy about not being able to have coffee tomorrow morning.

Andrea

jenninca · #2 11-10-2002, 10:16 PM

So do you want to go into the gory details of what's being done? I can give you a lot of dental related sympathy

Cindy
survivor of five teeth excavations, twelve regular teeth pullings, ten years of orthodontia including four years of braces, and a couple other oral surgeries, all before the age of 18

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #3 11-10-2002, 10:44 PM

Ditto the sympathy.

mj
four years of retainers, 10 years of braces, and jaw surgery complete with being wired shut for 8 weeks

ms_n · #4 11-10-2002, 10:52 PM

**pluckyduck** · #5 11-10-2002, 11:09 PM

Yay!

Sympathy!

I'd just as soon not go into all of the details....yes, we've found one thing that the Duck doesn't want to go on and on and on about.

Really, it's the money that kills me more than anything else. Don and I have both hit a middle age "you spend serious cash or you wake up to your teeth in glass every morning" spot. We're trying to stay out of Polident commercials.

Don's had to get bone implants, if you can believe that.

I've been d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g my feet, and now here I go.

Feh.

At least I can drink until midnight.

Andrea

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #6 11-11-2002, 08:12 AM

re: bone implants

Hubby needed that too. (Of course Hubby is considerably older than I am

.) Not that bad actually; Hubby's the biggest dentist-baby I know and he did just fine.

**lynnzop**[$] · #7 11-11-2002, 08:48 AM

Ugh. Other than wisdom teeth and loads of cavities when I was little, I've been pretty lucky in the tooth area. I had gum surgery a few years back however - receding gum due to over-zealous brushing.

That sucked.

Good luck Andrea...I'll be thinking of you today. At least you can still type when you get home.

Lynn

jenninca · #8 11-11-2002, 08:54 AM

Hey Lynn, I had that receding gum thing too, and it didn't suck at all for me.

Cindy
who is sending painless thoughts Andrea's way

**pluckyduck** · #9 11-11-2002, 09:17 AM

I can't drink coffee!!!

An hour or so until I have to leave for the oral surgeon and I'm looking forward to it (okay, not exactly) but at least when it is over I can drink something.

Wah. I am such a baby.

Getting not much sympathy at home because Don's been on the dentist, oral surgeon, periodontist treadmill for over a year. And of course, his issues are much more dramatic

He's on blood thinners, which means that his cardiologist had to consult with the different dentist-type persons, and they have to coordinate him tapering off his heart meds around each appointment.

I'm just withdrawing from coffee.

Andrea

murasaki · #10 11-11-2002, 09:19 AM

Andrea -

You have my sympathy/empathy. Make sure the surgeon gives you detailed instructions about what to do and not do after the surgery (when I had my wisdom teeth out they did not tell me about changing the gauze or why, so I just took the guaze out when I stopped bleeding and got dry sockets...not a good thing). Take care of yourself!

--naomi
9 teeth removed pre-braces; braces for three year; braces off then back on again for another year; wisdom teeth removed (all impacted); braces on again for four years; 8 periodontal grafts to strengthen my gums; two major jaw surgeries with six weeks of wearing a splint afterwards for one and six weeks wired shut with splint for the other; I stopped counting when the costs went over $100,000.

**pluckyduck** · #11 11-11-2002, 09:41 AM

OMG, Naomi! Dry socket is the worst.

I never had it, but I worked with a woman who it happened to.... no worse dental pain and there is nothing they can do for relief.

Quote:

I stopped counting when the costs went over $100,000.

I honestly can't tell you how much better that makes me feel.

I'm truly horrified by the amount of money that has gone into my mouth over the years ... and now, here I go again.

Quote:

9 teeth removed pre-braces; braces for three year; braces off then back on again for another year; wisdom teeth removed (all impacted); braces on again for four years; 8 periodontal grafts to strengthen my gums; two major jaw surgeries with six weeks of wearing a splint afterwards for one and six weeks wired shut with splint for the other

That's, um, jaw dropping? You poor baby! I sure as hell bet you floss everyday to take care of all of that work.

Andrea

**theworm**[$] · #12 11-11-2002, 09:45 AM

Oh, Ducky! (((Andrea))). Hugs to you!

Of course you have our sympathy - dental work is never fun!

I know that it's expensive, but in my old age I've come to ignore that - I'm been accused of being cheap, but we only have one body and we need to take care of it. You want to save your teeth, so try to ignore the financial side of it. You want to be able to take pictures and show a big toothy smile at your boys' weddings, so just take good care of yourself!

Hope that its not as bad as you imagine, and that you can have coffee again soon!

murasaki · #13 11-11-2002, 09:59 AM

You bet I floss. And use a battery-powered toothbrush three times a day. And have my teeth cleaned every six months.

I worked hard for this smile and I'm not about to lose it. I have heard that in 5-10 years we'll have the technology to regrow teeth (though who knows what that will cost

). That would be so much better than the dentures looming in my old age.

--naomi

frazzledspice · #14 11-11-2002, 01:47 PM

Did you read my review about Care Credit?

Interest-free payments if you complete them within 12 months.

I can sympathize. I needed several crowns this year. My husband had to have a bridge replaced. My daughter got Invisalign braces.

If you take just OUR share, after the insurance payments, we have paid his son's tuition to the Catholic junior high school he attends with my daughter twice.

In the meantime he works just FOUR days a week (two in an office about an hour away, and two in the one we visit.) "My dad (also a dentist) died when he was 50, and I have no intention of doing that," he said.

He is an excellent dentist, but the cost of dental care just has me shellshocked. Thank goodness we just have one child left at home who needs dental care.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #15 11-11-2002, 03:42 PM

Dry socket is just unbelievable. May no one here ever have to find out what it's like.

**pluckyduck** · #16 11-11-2002, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by frazzledspice
Did you read my review about Care Credit?

Interest-free payments if you complete them within 12 months.

I can sympathize. I needed several crowns this year. My husband had to have a bridge replaced. My daughter got Invisalign braces.

If you take just OUR share, after the insurance payments, we have paid his son's tuition to the Catholic junior high school he attends with my daughter twice.

In the meantime he works just FOUR days a week (two in an office about an hour away, and two in the one we visit.) "My dad (also a dentist) died when he was 50, and I have no intention of doing that," he said.

He is an excellent dentist, but the cost of dental care just has me shellshocked. Thank goodness we just have one child left at home who needs dental care.

As a matter of fact, Maryanne, I did read your piece, and it is excellent. Anyone who is needing to finance work, should give it a read.

As another matter of fact, Care Credit is the financing that our dentist uses. We've had two loans out (paid off) for Don, and just took another one for me, the zero percent interest one. The monthly bite :ha: is a chunk, but we're doing it.

And yes...

I'm back!!

Thanks for the good wishes guys. The surgery itself was no sweat (being under, of course). Nearly had a nervous breakdown before, but the surgery itself was fine.

Splitting headache, like a bad hangover, now, so I'll be off in a sec to go lay down awhile. Vicadan's and some TLC from Don

are helping.

Thank you!

Andrea

**theworm**[$] · #17 11-11-2002, 04:07 PM

Glad to hear that it went well! Get some rest, and feel better soon!

jenninca · #18 11-11-2002, 06:59 PM

Yaaaaaaaay, Andrea! You go girl!

Cindy
who needs to get to the dentist for her checkup, but needs to FIND a dentist first

murasaki · #19 11-11-2002, 07:07 PM

{{{{{Andrea}}}}}}

Feel better soon and get some rest!

--naomi

**pluckyduck** · #20 11-12-2002, 05:22 PM

I am so pathetic.

Did I mention that the side effect from my dental work is that I threw my back out?

No idea how...musta done something while I was under the anesthesia. Anyway, it was bothering me last night when I was quite well pain relievered up

.... and I remember thinking, huh, Vicodan doesn't work on backs.

Done my normal day, and I'm about locked in a ball.

Hmm, I could be out of work tomorrow, too.

I'll do the cold/heat thing as soon as I get home and hope it gets better soon.

Andrea the Pathetic and Hungry

murasaki · #21 11-13-2002, 07:29 AM

You know that rotator cuff I mentioned above? It got strained while I was under anesthesia because I woke up with it hurting. I think my arm got set in a bad position with the blood pressure cuff during the surgery.

How do these things happen?

I hope your back gets better. Back pain is the absolute worst. {{{{ducky}}}}

--naomi

**pluckyduck** · #22 11-13-2002, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by murasaki
You know that rotator cuff I mentioned above? It got strained while I was under anesthesia because I woke up with it hurting. I think my arm got set in a bad position with the blood pressure cuff during the surgery. How do these things happen?

I hope your back gets better. Back pain is the absolute worst. {{{{ducky}}}}

--naomi

I'm not crazy!

:dance: <--- ouch, it hurts to dance!

Thank you.

I had to tell my "I hurt my back while getting oral surgery" story 50 times yesterday at work, since everybody stopped me to ask me

1) how the surgery went and
2) why I was walking crooked

Everybody looked at me as if I were nuts.

Today, when the same 50 people stop me to ask if my back feels any better, I can add the part where "my good friend Naomi had the same thing happen with her rotator cuff...apparently this is a known side effect of oral surgery"

I

validation!

(Back is better today than it was last night, not quite as good as yesterday morning, thanks for asking.

)

Andrea