This week I did something that I’d been putting off for practically a decade—I actually made an appointment to see a dentist. It’s been a long time, and I hadn’t gone since I became financially independent—it’s easy to not go when no one is making the appointment for you and you’re the one footing the bill.

I made the call on Monday and quickly got appointments to get full x-rays done (17 different angles--good lord those must be the most comprehensive set of x-rays ever!), a general examination, and a cleaning. This dentist is like way high tech, and it appears things have changed since I went last century. Like, they now have little lasers that can tell you if you have cavities (which unfortunately I have 3 of! My first 3 ever. :( But he said there was nothing I could have done to prevent them because they are too far down to brush. He also remarked that I had good teeth when he first started examining me). Also, x-rays now pop up immediately on computer screens, instead of needing to be developed old-school style. I'm not looking forward to having cavities fixed, but he claims they are super teeny tiny and I could even wait a year to have them done--he really wasn't all that concerned. But his office uses some non-drilling air abrasion method that also doesn't require needles, so yay! At least that's something.

Anyway, apparently waiting so long in between visits means that they will spend so long just scraping stuff off that they won't want to also polish your teeth the same visit. So I get to go back in in a few weeks and finish with that, yay.

It also seems I'm some sort of freak in that I didn't decide to go because I suddenly had shooting pains or anything (everyone kept asking why I made an appointment now). Nothing had changed, except I just suddenly decided I should probably go (call it a New Year's Resolution?), and once it had been decided, I also concluded I should just get it over with. The place I chose wound up being pretty good I think. The people were all really nice and it wasn't too uncomfortable. They also didn't chastise me for not going regularly, which was cool. What's even better though is that they are totally within walking distance of my apartment, so I don't have to go far.

Oh I also wanted to point out how insane I am to do this, because I am paying for everything out of pocket. While I do have medical insurance, I don't have dental. I guess it doesn't technically matter too much though, because when I did have dental, the plans were kinda crappy and you could only choose between a couple large clinics and even then I'm not sure the coverage was 100% on everything. Since I clearly have an aversion to the dentist, I figured it would be better to go somewhere smaller.

Deciding to finally go wasn't a cheap decision--but things like extensive x-rays aren't an every time thing, so I won't always have to pay for things like that. I don't really know how this guy's prices compare to everyone else, but I had heard an excellent review of him and he's close and is indeed really nice, so I'd rather pay a little more to go somewhere that doesn't make me feel freaked out.

So yea, mom, there's one less thing for you to nag me about when I visit.

Posted at 5:39 PM |