My "emergency" appointment was yesterday at 7:30 a.m. I thought it would be 10 minutes at most---just gluing my crown back in. But, I was wrong about that.
The first thing was an X-ray. There was a young girl who took me into the examining room. She told me that she was going to do an X-ray. It was pretty obvious that she didn't know what she was doing. She kept looking at the thing that was supposed to go in my mouth with a puzzled expression. She kept turning it this way and that. Finally, without a word to me, she left the room. When she came back, she had another girl with her I had never seen before. She helped the first girl figure out how it was to go in my mouth. Then the first girl was trying to line up the X-ray machine with my jaw and couldn't quite get it. The second girl told her that she needed to adjust the chair by raising it up. Then, girl #2 told me that girl #1 was new and it was only her second day. That didn't really fill me with a bode of confidence.
Once the X-ray was finished, my dentist came in. She told me that there was a cavity where the crown had been and that the crown itself had a hole in it. Since it was over 20 years old, it was time for a replacement.
So, between giving me the novocaine, waiting for that to take effect, drilling for the cavity, filling it, making the impression for the new crown, making the temporary crown, and teaching the new girl--who told me she was a dental assistant student and was 23 years old--it was taking a really long time. As part of her schooling, she was "on-the-job training"--I was in the chair for 2 hours and 45 minutes! That's a long time. All I could think of was my cousin, Chrissy who suffered Bell's palsy after extended dental work. Luckily, I didn't get that!
All I've got to say, is I'm glad that we have dental insurance because the part that I had to pay wasn't cheap--$653!!
When I got home, Butch reminded me that he has his appointment today for his crown replacement!! So I guess it will be another $653. We'll see.
PS I think it's very appropriate that I am going to be "crowned" on the same day as King Charles!!
That is a very long time to spend at the dentist - and an expensive trip too! Good luck for your actual 'coronation'!
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