Your teeth and people who drill them

[Segoris]

Duct tape!

Seconded. If it can fix shoes, bikes, doors, unruly passengers on planes, all the up to the fucking planes themselves then it can surely fix a little hole in your tooth.

[Merusk]

Duct tape is notoriously poor in moist situations. 

I went with wax for now.

[Lantyssa]

Wuss.

[Trippy]

Duct tape is like the Force: it has a light side and a dark side and it binds the universe together

[Segoris]

How's the wax working btw? Also, I'm surprised Ghost isn't in here already

Duct tape is notoriously poor in moist situations. 

Duct tape diapers say otherwise, sort of. Well, at first....ok not really

But the duct-taped plastic bottle raft does argue that


Random aside

[Ingmar]

does duct tape work on verrucas

Well, I learned a new word today. Was a little nervous about looking it up at work, but I need not have worried apparently.

[ghost]

Duct tape is notoriously poor in moist situations. 

I went with wax for now.

That's probably your best option.  But don't go too long without getting into your dentist.  Fillings don't typically fall out unless there is something else going on, like decay under a part of the filling.  They can simply fail, particularly if it's an old silver filling, but when a patient tells me that their filling "just fell out" that gets my radar up for pathology of some sort. 

[Merusk]

It's a wisdom tooth that needs to come out. It's been problematic due to location and not ever fully emerging anyway (small mouth, big teeth. hooray.)  The filling was done 5 years ago and at the time it was a judgment call left to me to have it extracted or filled. 

Given the cost I said we'd go for filling and see how it goes.  Whelp, now we know.

All I really need is to have it patched-in until it's extracted. The oral surgeon needed a month lead last time I went so leaving it empty that long isn't really an option.

[ghost]

Surely you can find an oral surgeon that will do it faster than that.  I'd hate to see you spend money on getting it temporized only to take it out. 

[Merusk]

Possibly. Last time I just went with the one my Dentist recommended.  As far as paying, I didn't have to pay for the last one that fell out. (There *was* missed decay in that one.)

[ghost]

Theres a difference between missed decay and recurrent decay, meaning that there was decay that formed around the edge of the filling and eventually led to a catastrophic failure.  In reality, decay is left on quite a few fillings and the filling material will generally arrest the further development of the lesion, so it's usually not a problem.  Hell, just pick an oral surgeon and get the damned thing out.  It's going to save you time and money any way you look at it.  If you have too much trouble I can give you the names of some people down in Lexington that are trustable. 

[Hawkbit]

I'm a giant pussy about anybody messing with my teeth.  I had a filing fall out over a year ago on one of the wisdoms and just left it go for so long that it ended up being pretty painful.

I was freaking out last week when I went in to have my wisdoms out, but the surgery ended up being easy as cake with iv sedation.  The two days after surgery weren't bad at all, but days 3-6 were super shitty with pain for me.  I'm rounding the corner on it, but one of the sockets was really damn sore.  Not too bad, but there was one of the days I couldn't even concentrate on work.

I'm so damn glad to have them out now, though.

[Ceryse]

I've actually only recently been going to a dentist again (as a kid and teen I had horrible experiences with dentists, to the extent of snapping an arm off chairs I was in, and punching the worst dentist of them all; I'm paranoid and a control freak and this dentist took 10+ attempts with the needle for freezing and skimped on the freezing and constantly fouling up for 20-25 minutes before I snapped and just hit him and walked out -- was the last dentist I saw for about twelve years). My teeth are/were in very bad condition due to lack of oral care, 1-2 litres of soda a day for ~16 years and many of them getting chipped or broken from fights. Lucked out and the current dentist I have is.. worlds better than any I'd ever had. Had several yanked with zero issues (other than nearly snapping an arm off the chair I was in on my first visit of actual work being done, just out of sheer stress). Had a root canal done.. never felt a thing. Worst was the four fillings put in two of my front teeth last visit, due to the discomfort involved, but easily manageable.

Its amazing what a good dentist does to the experience. She actually listened to my warning of needing ample freezing, has yet to fuck up with applying it and generally been excellent in the work she's done (and all for decent prices [probably around.. $6,000 for everything, excepting the wisdom tooth I'll need removed and the piece of denture/bridge/whatever to cover a gap in the top front; less than half of what someone I know spent to have similar work done] -- important given I have no dental insurance). Little nervous about an eventual trip to an oral surgeon for my one wisdom tooth that's a little badly angled and far back, but is apparently a low priority, for now, given its condition. Have about another 5-6 appointments left with this dentist and each one is easier than the previous.

Makes me wish I'd had better dentists when I was younger. Well, that and wishing I hadn't been a retard about oral care just because I'd expected to be dead long before pesky teeth problems could emerge.

[Ratman_tf]

Its amazing what a good dentist does to the experience. She actually listened to my warning of needing ample freezing, has yet to fuck up with applying it and generally been excellent in the work she's done (and all for decent prices [probably around.. $6,000 for everything, excepting the wisdom tooth I'll need removed and the piece of denture/bridge/whatever to cover a gap in the top front; less than half of what someone I know spent to have similar work done] -- important given I have no dental insurance). Little nervous about an eventual trip to an oral surgeon for my one wisdom tooth that's a little badly angled and far back, but is apparently a low priority, for now, given its condition. Have about another 5-6 appointments left with this dentist and each one is easier than the previous.

Makes me wish I'd had better dentists when I was younger. Well, that and wishing I hadn't been a retard about oral care just because I'd expected to be dead long before pesky teeth problems could emerge.

I lurve my current dentist. He listens and pays attention to my discomfort levels. Ex: I had a bone chip in a socket after an extraction, and I went in to have it looked at. He poked around and couldn't find it, when I could feel it with my tongue. There was some kind of miscommunication because he was looking at the side of my gums, instead of in the socket. After we cleared that up, we was all "Ah! Yep. There it is." Yoink! Done.

[Lantyssa]

Makes me wish I'd had better dentists when I was younger. Well, that and wishing I hadn't been a retard about oral care just because I'd expected to be dead long before pesky teeth problems could emerge.

It's amazing how much difference a good dentist makes.  I wish the ones I had growing up were like my current one.  I hated injections until I met her, because I'm hyper-sensitive to touch and I've only felt the needle once in the dozen or so times she's poked me.

[01101010]

Ghost... Question for you. How many visits does it take to remove tooth calculus? Now that I am almost up to date with my root canals (1 left and 2 crowns needed), I am going to have to get this stuff removed from the backside of my bottom front teeth. I would have ad all this done, but shit ain't cheap even with insurance, so I had to space it out. I have heard some take 3 visits to get it completely done, others have said one visit. Or does this just depend on my dentist office?

And why does this only affect my bottom front teeth on the backside? Top teeth have nothing.

[Selby]

And why does this only affect my bottom front teeth on the backside? Top teeth have nothing.

My dentist told me that it was because the bottom teeth have gravity working against them so all debris falls by them and sticks around, whereas the top teeth tend to avoid the more serious problems for the same reason.

[ghost]

Ghost... Question for you. How many visits does it take to remove tooth calculus? Now that I am almost up to date with my root canals (1 left and 2 crowns needed), I am going to have to get this stuff removed from the backside of my bottom front teeth. I would have ad all this done, but shit ain't cheap even with insurance, so I had to space it out. I have heard some take 3 visits to get it completely done, others have said one visit. Or does this just depend on my dentist office?

And why does this only affect my bottom front teeth on the backside? Top teeth have nothing.

Actually, it really depends on your teeth and what condition they are in.  If you need a "deep cleaning", known as a scaling and root planing in the industry, that will be done in 2-4 appointments because they'll need to anesthetize and it takes more time. 

As for the calculus on the bottom teeth-  some people are more prone to develop calculus due to the makeup of the minerals in their saliva and other anatomical factors.  As Selby said, you typically have saliva pooled in the bottom of your mouth unless you are supine, so that's a logical place for it to develop.  You also have the exit point of two quite active salivary glands in that area (ever gleeked?), which contributes.  Lastly, hygiene habits play a big role.  How much you floss, how well you brush and your schedule for getting in for professional cleanings all contribute. 

[Merusk]

Temp filling in place as of Tuesday.  The oral surgeons require a consult before the operation, so just patching it with wax wasn't an option. The soonest for a consult is next Tuesday. 

No charge, as expected, for the temp.

[01101010]

Actually, it really depends on your teeth and what condition they are in.  If you need a "deep cleaning", known as a scaling and root planing in the industry, that will be done in 2-4 appointments because they'll need to anesthetize and it takes more time. 

As for the calculus on the bottom teeth-  some people are more prone to develop calculus due to the makeup of the minerals in their saliva and other anatomical factors.  As Selby said, you typically have saliva pooled in the bottom of your mouth unless you are supine, so that's a logical place for it to develop.  You also have the exit point of two quite active salivary glands in that area (ever gleeked?), which contributes.  Lastly, hygiene habits play a big role.  How much you floss, how well you brush and your schedule for getting in for professional cleanings all contribute. 

Definitely need the heavy treatment. Roughly how long a recovery for the gums to start coming back? I floss every night and brush twice daily. But that is only in the past 10 years... So I am playing catch up with the cleanings and exams, but needed the major stuff done first as to be able to eat without wincing. The majority of it is on the two center bottom teeth with little on the two adjacent ones on either side. More dental adventures coming for me...

[ghost]

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking by "how long a recovery for the gums to start coming back".  When you have severe recession on teeth that involves bone and gum and that never comes back. 

[Reg]

Oh no. Really?  Even with massive injections of fetal stem cells?  Seriously though, is this something they're doing research on or is it just flat-out impossible?

[ghost]

Oh, they've done research on it out the yazoo.  Let's just say that they've made some progress, to a limited extent, but there are major hurdles to overcome still before you can get any kind of reliable regeneration.  The sticking point is generally the area where the tooth attaches to the bone.  There are small collagen fibers that are the go between, forming a sort of ligament.  So you can get bone to pack in around the tooth and it will do okay for a while, but it will go away fairly rapidly without that attachment. 

[Jimbo]

Yeah I've had outbreaks of "yuck mouth" were the tartar (calculus is the actual name for it) is bad and I'm bleeding.  They fire up the ultra-sonic cleaner and blast away and it feels awesome!  Have no cavities, but have the other side where my mouth is full of calculus and gum disease if I don't stay on top of it.

Last year had to have 4 scale and root planings, now it looks so healthy that both the hygenist and the doc want to go back to 2 times a year on me.

Question on people getting shots, I don't like to numb before I give an injection.  Dentist routinely do, so do some of the pediatric centers and some of the infusion centers. One of the pediatric hospitals even claims "ouchless IV's", which makes me cringe. The problem is that good topical anesthetics are not that common or can cause more problems. Some of our CRNA's will numb even before a blood draw, some will not. We numb up for central lines and IO's too.

When I let the students start IV's on me I don't numb my arms or hands, but then again I'm a freak.

[Lantyssa]

Bourbon.  Lots of bourbon.

[Sky]

No, my prescription for that case would have to be a series of sharp blows to the head with a heavy, blunt object. Repeat until you cannot.

[Merusk]

In case you can't tell from the sarcasm, you're being told you need a root canal because the decay's made its way down in to the pulp & root.   I believe your only alternative to this would be pulling the tooth and having a bridge fitted instead, but I'm not the dentist here.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I really hope you guys aren't replying to the spambot, but I can never be sure.

Related to the topic - there is something wrong with a 5 year old needing to have a tooth pulled because it has an abscess.  That's just... it's a baby tooth!  That's probably one of the best cases for cutting out sugary drinks that I've ever seen/heard. 

[Merusk]

I really hope you guys aren't replying to the spambot, but I can never be sure.

No link, no sig, no spammy profile goofiness. Nothing that gave off the usual "spambot" warnings.

[Paelos]

I really hope you guys aren't replying to the spambot, but I can never be sure.

You never let us have any fun! I'm going to live with dad!

[RhyssaFireheart]

I really hope you guys aren't replying to the spambot, but I can never be sure.

No link, no sig, no spammy profile goofiness. Nothing that gave off the usual "spambot" warnings.

Username and email mismatch.  Plus firstnamelastnamenumber usernames are really common for spambot accounts.  Added to email addresses in the same format but different names/numbers and it's spammer all the way. 

And the only reason it came up is because I'd been cleaning up spam accounts on the manga forum before coming here, saw the account name and went right into spambot!cleaning mode, lol.

[Lantyssa]

I assume you're all sophisticated spambots and I'm just amusing myself with my own comments.

[Ironwood]

This is, in fact, the case.

[Zetor]

I really hope you guys aren't replying to the spambot, but I can never be sure.

No link, no sig, no spammy profile goofiness. Nothing that gave off the usual "spambot" warnings.

Username and email mismatch.  Plus firstnamelastnamenumber usernames are really common for spambot accounts.  Added to email addresses in the same format but different names/numbers and it's spammer all the way.  

And the only reason it came up is because I'd been cleaning up spam accounts on the manga forum before coming here, saw the account name and went right into spambot!cleaning mode, lol.

Yeah, this "new generation" of spambots likes to quote posts and insert the spam link into the quote (this spammer did that too). The actual reply to the quote doesn't have any links, so it isn't obvious if you look at the post, and since they like to make spam posts that end with a question, someone may quote them and thus unwittingly quote the spam link as well. I wonder how many people actually click those links, though...

[MahrinSkel]

Might be more SEO than outright spamming.  F13 has a remarkably high ranking for a forum with Google, so I'm surprised we don't see more of them.

--Dave