Adventures in dentistry, and a helpful hint (seriously)

[ceri]

The helpful hint, first. Maybe you folks all knew this, but I didn't: keeping your eyes open wide suppresses a significant part of the gag reflex! When you have to deal with something like dental X-ray films pressing against sensitive soft tissues, it genuinely does help to keep your eyes held open rather than flinching and closing them. I never knew about that, and am glad to.

Now then. I went to the University of Washington dental school yesterday. Friends have said they got great care, and so did I. Nor was there any bad news I wasn't already anticipating, and that actually is a relief. My assigned student is a young man born in Ukraine, and he was friendly and very, very careful—I was really impressed by his attention to detail, and feel a great deal of confidence in his evaluation.

I knew there'd be a lot of decay, from my slump years. What I was worried about was that there'd be additional problems that I haven't felt but which are nonetheless serious. It's possible something will turn up in the X-rays, of course, but his examination didn't find any. I'll be hearing back sometime in the next few weeks to schedule treatments, and it seems to me likely to go well.

So that's another bit of big pressing health catch-up done!

Comments

[sisyphus_rolling]

Also breathing through your nose. And I've found that listening to music while in the dentist's chair also helps.

[ceri]

Hey, cool, thanks.