Dentist

I had my first visit to the dentist in over 7 years in January of this year. The only thing they will do for new patients, in all of the offices I called, is get a set of X-rays and assess what needs to come next. I only had two cavities, though I also needed to have my wisdom teeth removed and I need a night guard (for nocturnal teeth grinding). Today was my first visit — my next is scheduled for July. (Curse me for choosing the “HMO”-like plan. It takes three months to see anyone. I lucked out with my January appointment, because they had someone cancel just before I called for my appointment.)

The practitioner and the dentists in Birmingham City Centre did say that I didn’t have too much plaque. Weird. It’s been seven years, so it’s amazing he’d say something like that. I was expecting excessive bitching over my long absence. Oh well. Actually, that reminded me that when I was still on my Mom’s health insurance, I had a hygienist tell me the same thing, and they promptly changed me to cleanings every 9 months instead of 6. I figured that they just wanted to see me less frequently. I really appreciate Frisco, TX orthodontists, since I’d previously had trouble with that same dentist — they were very skimpy with the novocain, and I started feeling the drilling before he was done (it was only one cavity, too, so not like I was having a string of them done). My parents had experienced the same thing, so it wasn’t just an aberration. Anyway, despite the pain, I decided not to say anything, because I figured he was almost done drilling, and I just wanted to get out of there.