don't you know by now {you can't turn back}

Was going to continue marathon posting, but figured that last one deserved a post of its own.

IS DENTIST FAIL TIEMZ.

Yet again, this dentist is going to have to fix/redo 90% of the work done by the last one. Some of which (yet again) are actually errors on the first one's part. Most recent dentist before yesterday's drilled stuff without filling it, as I've bitched about before. Natch, this guy's all "hahaha, noes" and thinks it's just decay. Umm, look at the goddamned x-ray, sir. Yeah, I've got way more cavities than I should have (most of it's just odd demineralization that I was supposed to be trying to prevent with special toothpaste and then just sort of stopped messing with somewhere along the line and using whatever was around), but those look like little brown spots. These holes look like. . . holes! They're perfectly circular drill holes that she didn't want to fill because she said they were too small for a filling to stick. They also don't have dark spots of decay around them (which is a surprise, actually, because I expected those to cavity up like nobody's business, being, you know, holes). So get your gremlin head out of your ass and believe me for once. That's the biggest thing. If I tell you something, let's proceed on the assumption that I KNOW MORE ABOUT MY BODY THAN YOU DO, kthxbai.

Gremlin. Should explain that. He looks like one. Like for serious. I was trying to find a picture, but the "meet the doctor" bit on his website is suspiciously "under construction". He has a very oval face, but oval in the wrong direction. Cartoonish. Probably it's just really really round, but he also has whiskers that add to the image. I half was tempted to splash some of the mouth-rinsing water on him and see if he would sprout clones and thus get through his queue of patients faster. Or call his wife and make sure she knew he wasn't allowed to eat after midnight. Because, you know, being a tooth-brushing-inclined type of man like I'm sure he is and how you can't eat after you've done so, the issue might not actually have ever come up.

So yes. Bazillions of, not really cavities, but decay spots that he wants to drill. Many of which are erosion bits on my front teeth, mostly in between them, that I'm very reluctant to let somebody mess with. Especially after hippylesbiandentist (what we will call drilling-not-filling-ma'am when we're not calling her that) didn't take the time to match the composite filling color to my teeth well enough and left me with too-white spots on my bottom teeth that show pretty badly.

Sidenote. Point of interest: the random question hit me out of the blue while typing this up--where do you find hard toothbrushes if nobody recommends them. Googled it, and there aren't a whole lot of hits, but I did land on a study of soft vs hard in enamel erosion that found that there was no significant difference in the amount of damage caused by the brushes. Course, a lot of the problem with the hard brushes is more the damage to the gums in either their failure to bend enough to get down in between the gum and the tooth or because you force them down in there and they cut you up, but that's interesting.

I mention this because, as probably has become evident by now, I have zero faith in any dentist by this point. This one was trying to tell me that saliva erodes your teeth because it's acidic. Or, you know, "saliva contains antimicrobial components, as well as minerals that can help rebuild tooth enamel after attack by acid-producing, decay-causing bacteria." Surgeon General > dentist. Also, the hygienist was trying to tell me that the second ingredient in diet soda was sugar. Seriously? Seriously?!

So I'm pretty sure I'm going to cancel this appointment I made for next week and find somebody else for a second opinion first. Because this is a lot of work they've decided I need now less than a year since the last bunch of such work, and I can't believe my teeth are that bad. Sure, I floss all of like never, but neither did my mom, and she's what, 30 years older than me and has had maybe 1/10th of the work done that I have? Really obviously have my dad's teeth, but he's also, you know, not 19, so I don't get why mine are this bad. Plus, I'm not crazy about this guy. Nice, but I suspect his (and definitely his hygienist's) dental knowledge.

Plus plus, anybody that says "Wow, how am I going to do that one? I really have no idea," when referring to one of my cavities is not overly exciting me about his prowess. Though this one in question def. is my fault more or less--the more or less because it's in a really overlapped tooth spot, as I never got braces and I'm really crowded in the bottom, and thus it grew, but because of same crowdedness, I can see how it's going to be pretty damn hard to get in there and fill without destroying both teeth. On the bright side, destroying both teeth means he can fill it back up (though it's the canine and the one closer to the middle, so I'm thinking veneer and not fliling, maybe--that's not something I've looked into a whole lot as I just found out it was a possibility, but I'm interested) in such a way that they don't overlap and thus I wouldn't need braces, considering by the end of what he wants to do, it looks like some 70% of my exposed tooth surface will be composite filling material.


Also. Forgot this bit. Remember how I got the drill broken off in my root canal that I shouldn't have had to have, 'cept second ever dentist (who caught the 12 cavities that first ever dentist let grow, some to near-root-canal size, whilst giving me a clean bill of health over the years including at a visit just two months before all said cavities were found) screwed up and drilled too deep (yeah, she thought I didn't hear her when she said "uh oh" but I did) on the tooth that she had previously said wouldn't need one, and then broke a drill off inside? And then I had to go to a specialist way the fuck uptown four times whilst he dug and dug around in there trying to get it out? According to analysis of a suspiciously thicker looking white line in one of the canals of said tooth, THE DRILL IS STILL FUCKING IN THERE.

Gremlin dentist (yesterday's) was all "well, sometimes it's easier to explain to the patient that it's out rather than that they cleared out all around it and sealed it up and it's okay." First of all, sir, pretty sure that's why I went to the specialist and paid extra money--to get the goddamned thing out. Second of all, I'm not an imbecile nor a child. When somebody's going to be digging around in my mouth, I do my research first, plus both drill-breakage-dentist and the specialist explained my options to me.

And third of all. IT OBVIOUSLY IS NOT OKAY IF THE NEXT THING YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME IS THAT THERE'S A MOTHERFUCKING SUSPICIOUS SHADOW AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT CANAL!!11one!!elevenhundredeleven!! For those who may not be conversant in root canal, that means bad. Means possible abscess, which would mean root canal failure, which would mean digging out all the shit they packed in there to seal it with and starting all over again.


Finally, when I brushed my teeth tonight, I was quite miffed that all the poking around in there appeared to have made me bleed more than I actually thought your entire gingival vasculature contained. And then I realized that it was probably because of the giant, gaping hole in my cheek that I'd bitten coming down the stairs minutes before. So there's that.

OMGWTFBBQ THIS IS FOR SERIOUS BIG.

Okay, but only if you like football. My dad and I were talking about this during the game (he gave up about halfway through the 3rd quarter, LOL)--after this year's performance following up on the last couple of years, you begin to wonder if Mike Shanahan's not losing his touch as head coach of the Denver Broncos.

And so it wasn't all that surprising to hear that he got fired today. But still surprising, as this guy's been coach for 21 years (only 14 as head, I think; before that as assistant coach). That's longer than I've been alive, he's been coaching for these guys.

I wonder if this was in the works no matter how they did on Sunday, or if it only got finalized after that bulldozing we got. I'd wager that it was the latter--it's hard to fire a coach when the team got to the playoffs, no matter how shitty their record was that got them there.

In other news, dentist appointment tomorrow. New dentist. I'm making my mother give me some of Tyler's sedative stuff (and if she won't, I'll just steal it), because I'm about to puke from the scared just thinking about it. Fail, me and my dentist phobia.

My email is not a fan of Slashdot mailings. I just got the digests from the 16th-19th, 21st, 24th, 29th, and 30th a second ago.

Periodontist appointment. Evidently I've got to have three different frenum bits sliced, as well as an autodonor graft to fix the bit in front where the frenum's pulled the gum down too far to heal. Next Wednesday. Because it had to be done before I leave for school, which is the 22nd, and since it's surgery, the guy wants me in town for at least two weeks after, though usually he wants three, just in case something happens. This guy is the one that prides himself on doing everything "the right way" in that people shouldn't have to have more than a tylenol afterwards. Joy, sir. He's nice, though. Actually talks to you. Except O HALLO SIR, IF YOU ARE TO BE SCRAPING VIOLENTLY UNDER MY GUMS, PLEASE TO BE HITTING ME WITH SOME ORAJEL FIRST NEXT TIME KTHX. I swear, I've never bled that much from a dental procedure in my life. In fact, I know I haven't. This was mondo blood I kept spitting out. And all clotty and such.

OMG, my mouth. Pain. It took them ages to get the temporary crown on/to fit, and my gums were screaming the entire time.

OMG, my wallet. Empty. The crown costs almost as much as the actual root canal? W. T. F.

Didn't end up going back to school, as my 1 hour appointment ended up being two as the receptionist that told me one evidently had no idea what she was talking about, and it wasn't worth driving back and parking and getting out, etc, all for only 15 minutes of my last class. And I was in pain (Still am. Kick in already, Advil!) and already had missed the pizza luncheon that I'd been saving calories all last week for, and more importantly (*cough*bullshit*cough*--nothing is more important than pizza when you've been looking forward to it for more than a week), the points I should have gotten for recruiting somebody to go with me to learn about the marketing program, which pissed me off.

I may not have mentioned (though I think I have) that they're redoing one of the highways in my city. Whatever, it's one I don't use. Except for but. They've screwed with the rest of them to take care of the overflow, as aforementioned highway will be closed for some two years. Gah. The one right by my house is now shoulder-less and with really tiny lanes. Which is scary enough when there's a truck beside you--the news was talking once that they have some tiny number of inches of clearance on each side now, the big 18-wheelers--but is completely terrifying when you're smashed between one of said trucks and somebody pulled over on the lack of shoulder. That is how my drive home went.

But I am home slightly earlier than normal, even for a day when I drive, which is nice. And enjoying a tuna melt (you know, in the sense that it hurts to breathe, much less chew around the left side of my mouth, but I was hungry enough that I decided to do it anyway). Except some facsimile of one, as I don't actually know what a tuna melt is and thus made a sandwich out of a piece of toast, a slightly melted slice of cheese, and some tuna salad, which just sounded about right for something called a tuna melt. The cheese was a waste, though, as I couldn't taste it on there after I lumped on the tuna, which was sad, if only because it was fat-free cheese, which isn't cheap.

Twas 72F degrees this morning/afternoon. I had to strip off while driving not only my coat but my stylish jackety thing and roll down the window.

Twas 13 with a wind chill of -4 on the way home from the gym this evening. Had to put coat back on and crank up the heat in the car (which frustrated me by not really working until I realized that the window was still open).

Plus, the wind was some 59 mph and blowing my car all over the road. This little thing I drive is way too light to stand up to that kind of beating--it already needs realignment, but just keeping it going in a straight line was a struggle.

Um, weather, whutisthis?

And on the tooth front. It fractured just below the gum line, so I'm missing about 1/4 of the tooth (the endodontist poked it twice or so with a random tool thing and then just popped it up with tweezers), but that means that there's still a pretty good chance of getting the crown on successfully. It's hard to say, though, because though they can do it if it's below the gum line a bit, this looks pretty far under to me (though it's still swollen from the infection, so we can't tell at this point).

Re: House. I admit, I did not get the prostitute/Mary thing with the clinic patient. My understanding level was prolly hindered by my being on the treadmill at the time (you don't quite pay as close attention when you're trying to avoid getting sweat in your eyes), and I was flipping channels on commercials and missed quite a bit, though, which was not cool. It's impossible to guess when the show'll be back anymore. There was one really long stretch with no commercials, and then like a 5 minute commercial break, and after that each break was only one minute or so. Oddness.

And my pears are ripe! Win. Except now I've eaten three of them today because I don't want them to go to waste, and so managed to go way over my calorie allotment for the day, which is lose.

There is such a thing as low-calorie breakfast cereal. In case you were wondering.

I found some website listing the top 10 breakfast cereals for dieters, and they didn't know what the hell they were talking about. They had ones that were 160 calories (and up) per serving on there. No. This is my list, to be updated, you know, if I come up with any more.

Malt-O-Meal is a brand of off-brand cereal that we buy whenever it's the cheapest, and they seem to have pretty darn good calories on a lot of their stuff. So, just from their website, here are the best ones.

(All standardized to 1 cup for comparison purposes. And because, you know, who wants less cereal than that?)
Puffed Rice/Puffed Wheat (either/both)-- 60 kCal per cup (<- WANT.)
Honey Buzzers (like Post's Honeycomb) -- 82.5
Crispy Rice -- 104
Honey Nut Scooters (Cheerios) -- 110 (Oddly, plain scooters have 10 calories more)

Beware, however, of websites that say weird numbers. For example. Occidental College has Total Raisin Bran - 89 per cup, but I knew that couldn't be right because the bran ones always are high in calories. I looked it up on Total's website, and it's actually 160. FitDay, the food/calorie counter that I use has the Malt-O-Meal Puffed Wheat at somewhere around 43.5 per cup, if I'm remembering that correctly, which is also wrong.

Just for informational purposes. And so I remember to buy some of that stuff that was number 1.

In other news, in the past hour or so while I've not been writing the proposal for my english paper (as I can't come up with an idea for said proposal) the gum around brokentoothfromhell has tripled in size again. It had gone down quite a bit when I started taking the antibiotics and ibuprofin, but now the outside bit of it (before it was more the mouth-side of the tooth, now it's the cheek-side) is all swollen. And (LOL, TMI) when I poke it, the swelly bit moves like there's fluid inside. Lovely. *mutters* Fucking dentist.

I think I might be randomly cutting a wisdom tooth in the back of my mouth. Like I needed more dental issues, LOL. I originally thought I just cut the back of my gum with a chip or something, but it's been irritated for quite a few days now (and of course, it's on the opposite side of the painful root canaled tooth, making it hurt to chew on either side), and I looked at it in the mirror today and it looks like somebody took a knife to it. There's a deep slice across the spot where I'd assume said wisdom tooth would be coming in, and it definitely wasn't there before when it first started to hurt (because I looked).

Oddness. I really want to go poke it in the mirror some more and see if there's anything underneath. Back when I got my full mouth x-rays in July during the first appointment at the drill-breaker, I made a point to look at the wisdom teeth (because I was hoping they'd never come in--my mom only got three, so a girl could hope--but they were all there), and they were all crookedy and under my 12 year molars and definitely didn't look close enough to the surface to be breaking through in only 6 months. But idk. I've got to get an appointment to crown this tooth anyway (which has taken on slightly more urgency since I remembered what happened the last time the filling sunk into the hole like this--the tooth cracked; much more worrysome than the pain), I'll have to get it checked out. I've really got to get on that.

I think I need a "teeth" tag. But I don't feel like going back through and finding all my old dentist rants and retagging them. Maybe at some point.