2026, Fitness, Health, Mysteries

Biting Remarks….

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My dental exam was Friday.  Like most folks, I don’t spring out of bed on dentist day, singing with joy and sprinkling my path with rose petals.  Honestly, if I could take a pill and never have to worry about my teeth or go to the dentist again, I’d take that pill every darn day. 

My dental history isn’t all that happy.  I have a small mouth to start with, not really enough room for all my teeth and then when my adult teeth started coming in, we discovered that I had some duplicates.  That meant tarting at the age of 9, I got the first set pulled, then wore retainers.  Then when the second set descended, those got pulled as well.  More retainers.  Then, the eventual braces, followed by more retainers.  During that time, I had another adult tooth that wasn’t breaking through the gum so had to deal with that.  5 years total.

Before marriage to wasband #1, I had my last dental exam while still on my folks’ insurance.  Dentist said all four of my wisdom teeth were there but didn’t appear to be doing anything.  Since my mom’s wisdom teeth never came in, the decision was made to leave them be.  Literally six months later (after wedding and without any dental insurance) all four came in.  They had to come out (small mouth, no room) and three of the four were impacted.

I’ll stop there, but suffice it to say I’ve had plenty more drama – broken tooth, crowns, bridge, more gum issues.  And this is all for a person who brushes and flosses every single night.  For decades.  Did I mention that my dentist growing up was my uncle?  So there was no sloughing off where the teeth were concerned.

Anyway Friday was just a cleaning but as I was laying back, I had to “un-tense” constantly.  It didn’t hurt but every few minutes I would realize that I was tensing up and have to force myself to relax.  At one point the hygienist knocked the tray with her elbow and I just about jumped out of my skin.  She said “it’s OK, you can relax” and I laughed so suddenly that I snorted.  Luckily she didn’t have any implements of destruction in my mouth at the time.  During a little break in the action, I asked her if anyone ever relaxes in the chair, she said “about half”.  That surprised me, I would have thought that most folks can’t relax.  I prefer not to be the outlier in this area.  We’ll see if that desire helps me relax next time around!  Snort.

What do dentists call the x-rays they take of your teeth?

40 thoughts on “Biting Remarks….”

  2. I don’t know – tooth x-rays?

    I did have to have a couple of wisdom teeth pulled. I have some extra bone tissue on the roof of my mouth which makes it hard at the dentists office to get all their implements, etc. in. I’ve had some gum issues. But I’m probably one of the relaxers – I think I had some very good-with-kids dentists early on.

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  3. My childhood dentist was not of the good-with-kids variety. He was dentist for our whole family and I can’t think why except that he was, in my father’s estimation, cheap.

    He didn’t use a high-speed drill and he never used novocaine. I had my share of fillings. I’ve also had root canals and crowns and gum work and wisdom teeth removed but that was later and by other practitioners.

    Nonetheless and for whatever reason, I am one of the relaxed ones.

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  4. Oh man, I’m right there with you. I still have dental anxiety.
    And I had the same dentist with the white smock and the office smelled of rubbing alcohol and he told stories of being a dentist in World War II and the men had to pedal the drill. Thanks, that’s what I wanna hear while you’re using that low speed drill on my tooth and the whole chair vibrates. I can feel it all the way down to my feet.
    Shudder

    And then when I was 18 or 19 I found a new dentist when the old guy finally retired. And he was wonderful and he made it as good as possible. And now he’s retired, and the whole process has turned into an assembly line, just moving patients through as fast as they can And all the anxiety is coming back because I never know who I’m gonna see.

    Got an appointment later this month.

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  7. My first childhood dentist was considered somewhat scandalous, as he had married a young woman he convinced to leave a nunnery.

    The other dentist who I had the rest of my childhood and adolescence was his brother, and was pretty good, although he allowed his own children to chew gum but only with their front teeth. They looked pretty odd doing that.

    I had multiple cavities as a young child since I ate a lot of Popsicles and was an infrequent tooth brusher.

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  8. I feel like I’ve blown through dentists after leaving home. One dentist in Milwaukee for just two years. Took a few years to find a dentist in Minneapolis but then he retired (and closed the office). Again, no dentist for a few years. YA had a nice dentist and I went to her for a bit but then one of her hygienists told me I should really have this deep deep cleaning that would cost me $800 and that insurance wouldn’t cover. I never went back. She then moved her office so I found another dentist for YA. Since then I’ve had five dentists – all of whom subsequently referred me to someone else when they retired. My current dentist is a fairly large practice with several dentists (none of whom I actually know since I only see them for the 5 minutes they come in after my cleaning to check things over).

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    1. I am in the midst of dental offices. They close and open or build new offices. New names appear and disappear on the signboards. Ours is not nearby and is very stable.
      Clyde

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    2. I’ve had a string of dentists as well. When I get to like one, they retire. Some of them I didn’t like, for one reason or another. One was at a clinic where they had television screens mounted over the chairs and throughout the cleaning or procedure, close-up videos of dental work on other mouths played. I asked them to turn it off and they refused so I never went back.

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    2. I had a dentist who offered nitrous oxide once, though not as concentrated a dose, perhaps, as Joel’s. Coupled with a pair of headphones streaming a blues channel, it was dreamy.

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  10. I went to a new dentist once that advertised ‘Helping you avoid dental phobia’. Once in the chair the doc started right in; no one ever asked about my anxiety or anything. I think it was just a cleaning and I never went back.

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  11. Lots of issues with teeth.
    Oral surgeries for wisdom teeth.
    For one, I was told, “Put your fingers in here.” Felt gooey. Turned out to be a grounding paste used in cauterizing wounds. Pretty deep hole!

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  12. Well, my dad was my dentist until he had his first stroke in 1990. His practice closed then, and he recommended his old friend Dr. Springmeyer. I liked Dr. Springmeyer. He wasn’t as rough on me as Dad was. He retired though, and I had to move on. Dad had a reputation for being so gentle and kind to kids – all the kids except his own. Being in his chair was very stressful for me, and he just told me to knock it off. He always said it didn’t hurt, but it did. I didn’t dare complain.

    All of that said, I have had very good dental care all of my life. I still go to the hygienist who was my dad’s dental assistant in his office. She only works one day a week now. She should retire, but she loves her job. I have never chosen a dentist, I chose Rose. She does a great job, never scolds me, and she assigned a dentist to me because I refused to choose one. I rarely have cavities. I’ve had all four wisdom teeth pulled and a crown on one tooth that my dad made. Later, my new dentist insisted that it had been on there too long and needed to be redone. I finally agreed, although the one I had wasn’t bothering me. The new crown is fine, but not as good as the one Dad made.

    I have a small, crowded mouth too, but I didn’t have to have any of the tooth extractions that you’ve had – just the four wisdom teeth. I also had braces.

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  14. Medical, not dental. A specialist wants me to have a procedure which requires a pre-op. My GP did the pre-op but does not think I should have the procedure. I trust my GP more. Sort stuck in the middle.
    Clyde

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      1. I know. Caught between two opinions with my vision at risk on one side and my well being on the other. Got a few days to mull it over. See eye doctor Thursday.

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  15. Years ago, Husband worked for a dental equipment company, so I asked him about the x-rays. He said it depends on what type of x-ray is being taken and what kind of equipment is used and rattled off a long list of terms. He didn’t mention tooth pics.

    When it comes to dentists, I’m in the anxious group. When I was a kid, our family dentist had eye-wateringly bad breath, a combination of cigarettes and coffee. I learned to time my breathing so I didn’t breathe in when he was breathing out.

    My youth was a long succession of dental and orthodontic agonies: cavities, extractions, braces, extractions, wisdom teeth. Many of the worst days of my life are dental related, like the time I was left at home to supervise my siblings right after having a couple of teeth extracted. It was summer and my parents were both at work. A severe storm blew up and knocked down a power line in the alley behind our house. My sister went out with the neighbor kids to investigate, while I stood at the window with my mouth stuffed full of gauze trying to call her back in. Luckily, no one was hurt, unless you counted my aching gums.

    As an adult, I’ve continued to have troublesome teeth, with broken fillings, root canals, etc. For a few years, I had a dentist I liked a lot, but he retired and ever since I’ve gone from one quack to another. I’ve been putting off dealing with a bad molar, and will need to get back into the dental chair soon, with white knuckles and curled toes.

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    1. A dentist with bad breath and reeking of cigarette smoke sounds revolting.

      Where do you live? I may be able to give you a lead on a very good dentist.

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  17. I also had the problem with crowded teeth. The denrist decided to sacrifice one upper and one lower. The upper one that was pulled was on the right, and the lower one on the left, so the centers of the upper and lower sets of teeth don’t meet.

    My mother took me to the appointment to pull the teeth, but forgot that I wasn’t supposed to eat anything before the appointment. We went out for lunch. As a result, I had Novocaine but was fully awake for the extraction.

    I never had braces – no money for that. There are worse things to have to live with than misaligned teeth.

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  18. i was a dentists dream. came in rwice a year with cavaties each time. im not going to mention all the horrible experiences but i do wish i had been more diligent with flossing etc
    teeth are on my to do list but not very high.
    many extractions many crowns root canals deep cleanings did veneers that turned brown immediately with all the coffee i drank. they told me to quit coffee i told them to take off veneers. didnt work that way.
    i had a dentist in high school who i hitchhiked to at southdale and smoked a joint on the way.who asked while i was in the chair if i was on medication. i said you mean like prescriptions? he said yes. i said no. he asked me not to come back any more. next guy was nice but my sister quit him because he didnt harrass her diligence. thats what i liked about him. he quit and sold church organs. next guy was a slimey bandit. talking about his family vacations to the carribian and charging whatever my insurance would pay. left him after he did an hours work and told me the insurance covered the first 2000 and i owed him 4. i told him to stick it. then on to obsmacare until they kicked me off due to medicare who diest offer dental insurance so as my teeth brake off i learn to chew in a different corner. im running out of options. teeth eyes and ears are taking a hit in old age and im riding it out for now
    im not anxious in the least just broke

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  20. Youthful bad experiences with no novocaine and multiple cavities and novocaine for root canals all led me to getting into barbers’ chairs and tensing up every muscle I can find to endure getting a haircut.

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