Taffycat
Crunchy Cat
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Messages
- 12,967
- Reaction score
- 1,075
What's yours like...? Your dental hygienist, that is? Do you even have one? Or does your dentist perform the honours him/herself? We used to have one who did that. There would be so much water spraying around, that one would end up half drowned, unable to swallow/breathe, water trickling down my neck and even into my ear-hole! I think he used miniature JCBs as instruments - that's what it felt like as he gouged, excavated and kept hitting nerves.... and that was only supposed to be the clean-up! Help....!" 
I am currently being treated by a marvel! This lady hygienist can wield her weaponry.... I meant to say instruments with the delicate touch of a feather duster. You hardly know that any work is taking place as she "hoovers" around molars, buffs the bicusbids and polishes an incisor or two. Yet at the end, teeth are gleaming and feeling good. No near-drownings, searing pain from indelicately probed nerves, or unnecessary blood-letting! It's amazing.
We chat. Like many in her profession, this lady is fluent in the language of "gurgle" that patients speak when their mouths are ajar and filled with instruments. The conversation covers books, anecdotes about pets, holidays, a bit of benign surgery gossip. She is also wise on matters toothy, of course.
Can you tell that I'm impressed? Lol. But it's true. She has even managed to solve a really long-standing problem I've had with a particularly sensitive tooth. "Aha! I know just the thing," says she, after listening to my lament about not being able to eat/drink various things without setting it off. She wrote a prescription for a toothpaste which is not available over-the-counter and sent me off to give it a go. It works! It genuinely does!! I practically have shares in "Sensodyne" (well no, not really...) but over the years, I've certainly purchased a mini-mountain of their products.... and one or two other brands besides. They were helpful, but NOT with this one particularly painful area. It seemed to defy everything I threw at it.... including some expensive stuff I purchased on the Net!
The dentist too, has an equally gentle touch. He has a shed-load of qualifications and is a mentor to other dentists. His surgery is better-equipped and the whole experience is a hundred times better - yet he doesn't charge as much as our previous guy, who really used to rip us off. He had a very nice surgery too, but, as the saying goes, it tended to be "all fur coat and no knickers!!" Lol.
Those amongst you who grew up with "Messrs. I. Drillem, E. Pullem & U. Bracem" at the school clinic, (a scary place a few decades ago,) might understand why I am throwing some complements around. The years of lying rigidly tense, wondering whether the practitioner was ever going to give one a break to rest a badly aching jaw (have had TMJ for years, which can be b*!!#$ painful even without the dental treatment!) are thankfully, in the past. Today, one is treated like a human, rather than an anonymous entity on the other end of a tooth! Yay!
I am currently being treated by a marvel! This lady hygienist can wield her weaponry.... I meant to say instruments with the delicate touch of a feather duster. You hardly know that any work is taking place as she "hoovers" around molars, buffs the bicusbids and polishes an incisor or two. Yet at the end, teeth are gleaming and feeling good. No near-drownings, searing pain from indelicately probed nerves, or unnecessary blood-letting! It's amazing.
We chat. Like many in her profession, this lady is fluent in the language of "gurgle" that patients speak when their mouths are ajar and filled with instruments. The conversation covers books, anecdotes about pets, holidays, a bit of benign surgery gossip. She is also wise on matters toothy, of course.
Can you tell that I'm impressed? Lol. But it's true. She has even managed to solve a really long-standing problem I've had with a particularly sensitive tooth. "Aha! I know just the thing," says she, after listening to my lament about not being able to eat/drink various things without setting it off. She wrote a prescription for a toothpaste which is not available over-the-counter and sent me off to give it a go. It works! It genuinely does!! I practically have shares in "Sensodyne" (well no, not really...) but over the years, I've certainly purchased a mini-mountain of their products.... and one or two other brands besides. They were helpful, but NOT with this one particularly painful area. It seemed to defy everything I threw at it.... including some expensive stuff I purchased on the Net!
The dentist too, has an equally gentle touch. He has a shed-load of qualifications and is a mentor to other dentists. His surgery is better-equipped and the whole experience is a hundred times better - yet he doesn't charge as much as our previous guy, who really used to rip us off. He had a very nice surgery too, but, as the saying goes, it tended to be "all fur coat and no knickers!!" Lol.
Those amongst you who grew up with "Messrs. I. Drillem, E. Pullem & U. Bracem" at the school clinic, (a scary place a few decades ago,) might understand why I am throwing some complements around. The years of lying rigidly tense, wondering whether the practitioner was ever going to give one a break to rest a badly aching jaw (have had TMJ for years, which can be b*!!#$ painful even without the dental treatment!) are thankfully, in the past. Today, one is treated like a human, rather than an anonymous entity on the other end of a tooth! Yay!
But on a more positive note, your own gnashers will hopefully be with you for a long time yet; having such a good oral hygiene regime - plus a little help from the dentist - is giving them a very sporting chance