adrian_turtle (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
adrian_turtle) wrote2003-10-28 11:18 pm
adrian_turtle) wrote2003-10-28 11:18 pm
more secret lives of dentists
My former dentist came highly recommended. Although I am not, myself, a pervert [*]with a profound dental phobia, it impressed me that so many such were singing his praises. He was a remarkable listener, who seemed very attentive to informed consent when explaining treatment options. He suggested a signal to let me interrupt him when he was working on my teeth, and responded with patience and respect when I used it.
([*] moderately general term, used here with kind intent.)
I tend to clench my teeth - this is both a cause and a result of continuous pain. My former dentist patted me on the head, literally and figuratively, and told me to relax. When, some time later, another dentist (away over yonder in Brookline) made me a mouthpiece to interrupt the clenching reflex, my former dentist tried to talk me out of wearing it...arguing that it was dangerous not to clench a little bit. This instructor at Harvard's Dental School was arguing that my human teeth would keep growing like rabbit teeth if I didn't clench them together while I slept; I just needed to do it more gently.
Tooth clenching is also hard on fillings. When I started getting cavities in my twenties, I had them filled with resin, and the first (biggest) cracked 4 years later. He convinced me that a gold filling, while expensive, would be most durable, least damaging to the tooth, and thus least painful. And the intense pain from the cracked filling did ease shortly after he repaired it...but it never quite went away. It always hurt a little, and it hurt very badly in response to cold or pressure. This was explained as "sensitivity," and "nothing to worry about." I had so little experience with fillings that he could convince me it was supposed to feel that way, every time I complained of it. After 3 years of increasing pain, I finally went to another dentist, who said I needed a root canal. After the root canal, the tooth finally stopped hurting. It was extraordinary. People talk about root canals as being worthy of dread, but I felt very good about mine (in large part because it was done with adequate lidocaine.)
I stopped seeing my former dentist more than a year ago. I considered sending a civil note explaining why I was leaving. (More briefly, I considered sending a nasty note.) I just told the receptionist I did not want to schedule another appointment; I would be seeing another dentist. I paid my final bill, and thought
that was that. Every so often, I get a note from their office, telling me I'm
overdue for an appointment. I'm starting to feel like they're chasing me, because the automatic mail forwarding is over and I'm certainly not giving THEM my new address.
I finally called them to formally ask them to leave me alone. It turns out that there was a minor billing/insurance foulup last summer, such that I owed them $4. The receptionist said she couldn't close my account while I owed them money. This makes sense. It would be churlish of me to resent them for not sending me a bill, all this time. I'm $4 ahead, right?
([*] moderately general term, used here with kind intent.)
I tend to clench my teeth - this is both a cause and a result of continuous pain. My former dentist patted me on the head, literally and figuratively, and told me to relax. When, some time later, another dentist (away over yonder in Brookline) made me a mouthpiece to interrupt the clenching reflex, my former dentist tried to talk me out of wearing it...arguing that it was dangerous not to clench a little bit. This instructor at Harvard's Dental School was arguing that my human teeth would keep growing like rabbit teeth if I didn't clench them together while I slept; I just needed to do it more gently.
Tooth clenching is also hard on fillings. When I started getting cavities in my twenties, I had them filled with resin, and the first (biggest) cracked 4 years later. He convinced me that a gold filling, while expensive, would be most durable, least damaging to the tooth, and thus least painful. And the intense pain from the cracked filling did ease shortly after he repaired it...but it never quite went away. It always hurt a little, and it hurt very badly in response to cold or pressure. This was explained as "sensitivity," and "nothing to worry about." I had so little experience with fillings that he could convince me it was supposed to feel that way, every time I complained of it. After 3 years of increasing pain, I finally went to another dentist, who said I needed a root canal. After the root canal, the tooth finally stopped hurting. It was extraordinary. People talk about root canals as being worthy of dread, but I felt very good about mine (in large part because it was done with adequate lidocaine.)
I stopped seeing my former dentist more than a year ago. I considered sending a civil note explaining why I was leaving. (More briefly, I considered sending a nasty note.) I just told the receptionist I did not want to schedule another appointment; I would be seeing another dentist. I paid my final bill, and thought
that was that. Every so often, I get a note from their office, telling me I'm
overdue for an appointment. I'm starting to feel like they're chasing me, because the automatic mail forwarding is over and I'm certainly not giving THEM my new address.
I finally called them to formally ask them to leave me alone. It turns out that there was a minor billing/insurance foulup last summer, such that I owed them $4. The receptionist said she couldn't close my account while I owed them money. This makes sense. It would be churlish of me to resent them for not sending me a bill, all this time. I'm $4 ahead, right?