Fuck Today (Part 1)

general topics
1344

I actually fear almost nothing. Seriously; I know it sounds like bragging, but I have almost no opportunities to be brave, because I lack so many fears that others require courage to overcome.

Large Exception: dentistry.

By the time I leave the office every nerve is screaming and every muscle is locked up like a bank vault. It takes days before the soreness wears off. The whole time I’m in the chair I have to fight the irrational urge to leap to my feet, punch the hygienist and dive screaming through the window.

All that being said (hey, you started it with the oversharing thing) I strongly recommend gold crowns. I have four. They last indefinitely, unlike porcelain crowns which have to be periodically replaced as they are very easily broken. Also, they literally cost about $20 more than porcelain (at least in my area, where a crown costs well over a thousand dollars.)

Dentists typically do not recommend them and have to be persuaded that you know what you are asking for. However, the biggest demographic for gold crowns? Dentists.

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1345

My gold crown gave out after 15 years while my porcelain crown has just kept rocking on. (I grinded a hole into the bottom.)

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1346

I think you may be right about crowns, but the metals /amalgams seem to make better filling materials.

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1347

I agree with this. I also hate holding my mouth open for extended periods, as I hate the feeling of stuff dripping into my throat. The actual pain wasn’t too bad - on the other hand, I grew up with a dentist who didn’t believe in any form of numbing while drilling, so I have a high threshold.

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1348

When we were in Maryland, the children’s dentist used nitrous as a matter of course, which was great - I think it’s basically why they’re not scared of going to the dentist (they had to have a lot of work when they were younger)

I have a spiel that I go into every time I get a new dentist - on the bottom half of my mouth, the standard nerve block doesn’t work, Gow-Gates block can work but you’ll probably need to use a lot of anesthetic, and infiltration with septocaine is more reliable in my mouth than a block. They seem surprised that I know this, and it’s like - knowing this information is how I avoid re-enacting Marathon Man. Of course I know what kind of anesthesia I need.

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1349

I have never even thought of this: headphones, some kinda screenwatching. Brilliant. Worth a try, surely. Thanks.

I am almost entirely resistant to novocaine, which is very bad. I have had a lot of dental work, having had 4 teeth pulled under local, 4 under general anesthetic during dental surgery, I got my first crown last year. I suspect my body has built up quite a tolerance to novocaine. Four or five shots in, I’m still feeling almost everything. Most of the dentists I have gone to look at me funny when I tell them this.

I have never gone for the gas but I imagine if I have more dental work, I’d think about it opting in. My father-in-law, peace be upon him, never ever used pain killers at the dentist’s. I miss that guy. He was one of a kind.

Ooooooooh this is interesting. Dang.
With you on the muscle lockage. That’s my MO as well. Not that it’s a good practice. Hypnosis beforehand, maybe?

Hell’s teeth!

Usage example:

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1350

As I understand it, if you ground through the crown, it wasn’t properly fitted. Or else your diet includes a heavy load of serious abrasives, like whale blubber rolled in sand. :slight_smile: My oldest gold molar crown is over 20 years old and intact.

And to put your experience in perspective, if it had been a porcelain crown, it wouldn’t have ground through in 15 years, it would have shattered in 15 hours. (I broke one 5 minutes after installation, myself. Had it replaced with gold, but also had the stump ground down a little lower, too.)

Gold deforms (and, eventually, abrades) in circumstances where porcelain breaks. That’s why dentists like gold on their own molars. Gold on the front teeth is associated with poverty upbringing, so porcelain is preferred there, where the teeth are used primarily for cutting and not grinding.

I don’t like mercury amalgam in my mouth; I can taste it, for one thing, and for another my personal body chemistry seems to include saliva that turns mercury amalgam into black swiss cheese in a year or two, causing them to fall out and be swallowed. I don’t want any mercury or lead in my food or medicines, full stop.

Yeah, pain is not the issue for me either. It’s just an irrational phobia! I freak out in a way that I don’t ever experience anywhere but in the dentists’ chair. Stupid brain…

Disclaimer: I am not a dentist (although my father-in-law was) or a periodontist or oral surgeon &etc. This is stuff people in those professions told me, which makes it hearsay. My only special claim is that I have at least four nerve channels per molar, five in a couple of them, because I have an unfortunate superabundance of nervous tissue, which makes my root canals extra fun.

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1351

Or you grind your teeth at night.

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1352

Hmm, I guess it would be better to grind away a gold crown than have the grinding distributed over the healthy teeth, so maybe that’s the right way to fit it! Swallowing gold dust won’t hurt you.

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1353

Well, this was years ago and I’ve since stopped grinding my teeth. But teeth migrate, so what was initially a good fit can become a poorer fit over time. I asked my current dentist who replaced the crown why not another gold one, and he told me that I’d probably wear through that one, too. I think that the correct crown for some may not work for others.

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1354

Have you tried wearing headphones and listening to music so you don’t have to hear the drill?

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1355

Yes on the headphones. But, I find that audiobooks and podcast fiction help me more to be somewhere else. As long as it’s not too funny, because laughing wouldn’t be helpful at that moment. :slight_smile:

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1356

ha ha, that is a funny image

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1357

I’m not a dentist, just some random Internet guy, but do keep in mind that dentists make more money from porcelain crowns. A lot more money!

My father-in-law, while he was still practicing, was required by law to minimize his exposure to dental amalgam - removed fillings and excess material were kept under oil in a special jar, to prevent them coming in contact with air or water. But up until 2005, a dentist’s license to practice would be revoked if he pointed this out to patients who would have the same material put into their molars. Not kidding! I take things dentists say with a grain of salt or two, and try to keep in mind where their profits lie. My dentist has gold crowns on his molars, and does not recommend them to patients…

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1358

Fucking Oklahoma

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1359

There’s a lot of chipping away at Roe v. Wade, but I think that even SCOTUS would have to rule this unconstitutional.

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1360

OK, that’s enough.

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1361

I doubt it will even get past the federal circuit court, if the governor signs it. There is no way this is even remotely constitutional.

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1362

Oh obviously, they probably knew full well and went ahead with it anyway cause well Jesus/God/Something…
Even my usual head->table gif isn’t enough for this.

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1363

I mean, come on. They know this isn’t even remotely legal, but there they go wasting time and money working of stupid legislation anyway. Because.

Fuck these people.

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