Home with minimal trauma

[susandennis]

So. Google hates the university district of Seattle. It's confusing, that's why you need Google. Only Google is confused. And there is construction. I left for my 1 pm appointment at 12:15. Google said it would take 20 minutes. Liar liar pants on fire and even after several misdirections, took me to the neighborhood behind the dentist! Had I not been there before, I would have been royally fucked. But, I found a little path through the bushes and walked into their lobby at 12:53.

Just the nicest people on the planet. Vince, not the brightest bulb but so well meaning and kind, took me back to the chair and got all the vitals and took and x-ray and a photograph of the tooth. The dentist was very sharp and also kind and had a lovely manner about him.

The choices were do nothing or crown. His sales pitch for the crown was way off the mark. Seriously, dude, I do not want to undergo pain and inconvenience and all that money to make a tooth last way longer than I will. I'll take my chances. He said he understood. He offered to smooth off the edges with his drill and I said that I'd rather he not. He did say that they will smooth on their own over time and I should make sure to water pick that tooth religiously to keep infection out.

And he urged me to return any time. I let Vince sign me up for a teeth cleaning in June. Not happening but it made him feel better. $122.

Oh and the dentist in the very classiest way asked me to leave a review which I absolutely will do.

Then I went to the fancy grocery and got some salads and meals and a slice of cheese cake. I had had breakfast but not lunch so I'm kind of surprised I didn't buy the whole damn store.

But now I'm home enjoying one of those salads and grateful that my dental adventure was simply a 3 hour tour.

Comments

[msconduct]

Congrats to you for going! I thought your teeth would have to be on fire to get you across a dentist's threshold.

[kulturschnepfe]

Yay for you going! I am a dental phobic myself. The thing that made me finally go after decades (I am grateful that my teeth gently rotted painlessly :(, which is a rather stupid thing to say, but yeah) was that my baby brother, 16 years younger but now in his 40s, became a dentist himself. He is not my dentist, we live too far apart, but his enthusiasm for his profession made me reconsider: maybe they weren't all sadists? Lo and behold, I dared to go after looking for one specialising in dental phobics and now my teeth are in quite good order and I go to have them checked up twice a year. Trembling and quaking nevertheless, but I go. I still consider my brother something of a traitor to convince me that he and his colleagues might actually be okay. ;)

[halfmoon_mollie1]

My dentist, picked for convenience more than anything else, is ex military. He's somewhere in his 50s and he can sometimes be very brusque. But the first time I saw him (last July) he had to pull a tooth. He was as gentle as he could be and when it was all over he gave me his home phone number - it was a weekend, so the office wouldn't be open the next two days. "If you have a problem, day or night, call me." I've been back for my six month and I have a checkup in July. I'm really glad your experience wasn't awful.

[seasonedrite]

I'm happy to hear that you escaped without being traumatized. :)