DIY Dentistry
Well I successfully "manicured" my own feet, so why not teeth?
I've not had a great relationship with my teeth over the years. Seems very hard to maintain control over them. And by that, no I don't mean I can't stop them from eating (though there probably is an element of that), I mean that despite brushing faithfully I've had my fair share of problems.
Some might point to excessive Strongbow swilling down the years as well as other acidic nasties from my teenage years (Wham bar anyone), but I shall conveniently sidestep any remarks along those lines.
It was however during those teenage years that the problems did begin. Having never had any filling or repairs of any sort, one day aged about 14 I presented myself at the fearsome Dr Black's dental surgery in Oxford to be given some bad news. NB: Fearsome refers to the receptionist, aren't they all. After a few minutes perusal of the latest editions of Country Life and Homes and Gardens (fascinating stuff) I was called through to be checked over and told I needed about 10 fillings!
Seems odd that I should go from perfect teeth to this disaster in just six months, but I had to accept what I was being told. Maybe business was slow that week. Still it has to be said I was having to suck my crisps at the time due to toothache, particularly Walkers Roast Chicken flavour which seemed to be made of a different type of razor sharp potato back in those days to the other flavour, so something had to be done. This was around the time I had discovered that the my cash provided for lunch purposes was just as good for the tuck shop or "choccy box" round the corner as it was for the canteen. But I digress.
So I had all these fillings - the horrible old mercury kind which nearly 30 years later most have dissolved or crumbled away presumably into my system. Don't think they even use them anymore, perhaps someone decided poisoning people wasn't a good idea. In the intervening years several more horror stories occurred mostly relating to Wisdom teeth - a long and drawn out process. A vague repressed memory has come into my head of being under a young newly qualified lady dentist (not literally sadly, as she was rather pretty so I recall), who couldn't get it out, and various other dentists swarming in - I think there were about 3 of them yanking away at it at one point.
More recently I have had problems with those old fillings needing replacing, and various severe toothache crises that have involved having to pay due to being unable to get to see an NHS dentist in the timescales available.
And along comes this week and another crisis develops. Now I mentioned already about Wisdom tooth woe, well about 4 or 5 years ago I had another one out. Or rather most of another one. After about half an hour of extensive roadworks in the bottom left half of my mouth, my dentist at the time (now retired) managed to get it out. I think he needed a bit of a sit down afterwards as he looked like he'd just done a serious work out at the gym (or however I imagine that to look). At which point he informed me that they'd got most of it out, but that some of the root was still buried and it would come through in due course.
So fast forward to February 2013 and suddenly toothache strikes again - a quick run round with the tongue reveals a jagged stump in the corner where the wisdom tooth used to be - yes, here it comes, just as promised!. As soon as I start touching it there is pain - it's probably been there a couple of weeks without me noticing, just long enough to get unpleasant. Very bad timing, as I can't get an appointment at short notice and will be unable to attend a dentist in the next couple of weeks due to other commitments. Plus there's the cost to think about. So I thought - sod it, the mountain will have to come to Mohammed. I put my finger in and had a good waggle around - seemed a little bit loose. So I put two fingers in - grabbed it by both sides and gave it a good hard pull. There was a brief moment of intense pain, but out it came, and was I glad it did - not a pretty sight at all. The good news was it didn't leave a huge crater or even bleed - and the pain I was feeling down there disappeared almost immediately! And that's at least 50 quid saved as well.
I was feeling so pleased with myself that I had a nice bag of Golden Wonder Smoky Bacon crisps to celebrate. Cheers!
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason xx
I've not had a great relationship with my teeth over the years. Seems very hard to maintain control over them. And by that, no I don't mean I can't stop them from eating (though there probably is an element of that), I mean that despite brushing faithfully I've had my fair share of problems.
Some might point to excessive Strongbow swilling down the years as well as other acidic nasties from my teenage years (Wham bar anyone), but I shall conveniently sidestep any remarks along those lines.
It was however during those teenage years that the problems did begin. Having never had any filling or repairs of any sort, one day aged about 14 I presented myself at the fearsome Dr Black's dental surgery in Oxford to be given some bad news. NB: Fearsome refers to the receptionist, aren't they all. After a few minutes perusal of the latest editions of Country Life and Homes and Gardens (fascinating stuff) I was called through to be checked over and told I needed about 10 fillings!
Seems odd that I should go from perfect teeth to this disaster in just six months, but I had to accept what I was being told. Maybe business was slow that week. Still it has to be said I was having to suck my crisps at the time due to toothache, particularly Walkers Roast Chicken flavour which seemed to be made of a different type of razor sharp potato back in those days to the other flavour, so something had to be done. This was around the time I had discovered that the my cash provided for lunch purposes was just as good for the tuck shop or "choccy box" round the corner as it was for the canteen. But I digress.
So I had all these fillings - the horrible old mercury kind which nearly 30 years later most have dissolved or crumbled away presumably into my system. Don't think they even use them anymore, perhaps someone decided poisoning people wasn't a good idea. In the intervening years several more horror stories occurred mostly relating to Wisdom teeth - a long and drawn out process. A vague repressed memory has come into my head of being under a young newly qualified lady dentist (not literally sadly, as she was rather pretty so I recall), who couldn't get it out, and various other dentists swarming in - I think there were about 3 of them yanking away at it at one point.
More recently I have had problems with those old fillings needing replacing, and various severe toothache crises that have involved having to pay due to being unable to get to see an NHS dentist in the timescales available.
And along comes this week and another crisis develops. Now I mentioned already about Wisdom tooth woe, well about 4 or 5 years ago I had another one out. Or rather most of another one. After about half an hour of extensive roadworks in the bottom left half of my mouth, my dentist at the time (now retired) managed to get it out. I think he needed a bit of a sit down afterwards as he looked like he'd just done a serious work out at the gym (or however I imagine that to look). At which point he informed me that they'd got most of it out, but that some of the root was still buried and it would come through in due course.
So fast forward to February 2013 and suddenly toothache strikes again - a quick run round with the tongue reveals a jagged stump in the corner where the wisdom tooth used to be - yes, here it comes, just as promised!. As soon as I start touching it there is pain - it's probably been there a couple of weeks without me noticing, just long enough to get unpleasant. Very bad timing, as I can't get an appointment at short notice and will be unable to attend a dentist in the next couple of weeks due to other commitments. Plus there's the cost to think about. So I thought - sod it, the mountain will have to come to Mohammed. I put my finger in and had a good waggle around - seemed a little bit loose. So I put two fingers in - grabbed it by both sides and gave it a good hard pull. There was a brief moment of intense pain, but out it came, and was I glad it did - not a pretty sight at all. The good news was it didn't leave a huge crater or even bleed - and the pain I was feeling down there disappeared almost immediately! And that's at least 50 quid saved as well.
I was feeling so pleased with myself that I had a nice bag of Golden Wonder Smoky Bacon crisps to celebrate. Cheers!
 |
| Was actually able to eat on both sides today! |
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason xx
Great stuff, It's indeed a very useful and informative topic. Thanks for sharing, it really helps me a lot. Cheers!
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