February 7, 2002 I set up the appointment with a dentist locally and was horrified to find that Russell has a huge gaping cavity in a permanent tooth because baby teeth are hooked under the damned thing and forcing it backward where he can't reach it well with a toothbrush. (Not even the Barney toothbrush he got while at the dentist's office.) Mike has 8 cavities, serious peridontal disease and needs 3 wisdom teeth extracted. He's lined up for a LOT of work. I have 6 cavities and have to have all three caps that my previous and highly incompetent dentist charged me up the ass for. In fact, one of those caps, she charged me to replace because the damned thing never set right the first time and fell off. AND. I am still paying for the damned thing! I used to trust my dentist. I used to think I was doing just fine, thank you. I floss, I brush and despite the fact that diabetics often end up with dentures, I'd been assured I was doing everything right. Being that we have been at the dentist's several times a year, it's not like these cavities and so forth are brand spanking new, but rather than our previous dentist sucks. I've asked for the records I had there to be sent to the new dentist for review and after that, I may be speaking to a lawyer. I am so angry. I can't believe that someone we trusted could be so totally fucking incompetent. No wonder there hardly seemed to be anyone in her office. No wonder. I trusted this woman with my life and she has put it at risk. Not to mention the excrutiating expense of having to pay for four caps that are so poorly done, that I'm up shit's creek with the damned things and having to replace them. I'm sorry but a grand sum total of $1500 when you take home less than twice that in a month is an assload of money. I was supporting two kids and hubsky and had to pull that kind of cash from some mystically heretofore unknown orifice to pay for that dental work. I am STILL paying for some of this shit. Well, okay, I'm not paying any more. And I am going to have to pay for them again because I don't think our new insurance is going to fully cover their part because these are so recent. I'm also willing to bet large sums of cash (which I don't actually own) that this incompetent twit will NOT be supporting her work. Hell, she didn't the first time. I'd told her that I had a large gap between my teeth and she said something about having something like that and keeping that sandwich for later. Like it was normal even though I've never had gaps between my teeth like EVER! At this point, there are a lot of cavities...dangerous ones for me. One of my teeth is cracked and the old dentist crowned it, but she didn't do a full crown for some reason, so under the crown where the tooth was exposed, there's a big cavity. Because this tooth is so badly cracked, I think I cannot get the cavity done and the cap done without risking losing the tooth.
What's worse is that lately, it's been sensitive to temperature changes. I'm afraid that I might need a root canal, but because this tooth is so badly damaged already that I might end up having it pulled and getting a bridge. I don't know if the sensitivity is because it's cracked and wearing a bad cap or because it's a root canal. I figure if it gets any worse, I'll go in early, but otherwise I'll just wait it out till the appointment on the 27th. Bridges are things that come just before they fit you for dentures, you know? I just want to cry and cry and cry. I work so hard to care for my teeth and this dentist has so utterly ruined my mouth that I don't know if I will be able to recover. At night, I'm so upset, I'm grinding my teeth more than usual. I know because I'm waking up with a sore jaw every morning. The only thing apparently that this dentist did was to give me a mouth guard, although that fits badly, too. The one thing I know is that it isn't me. The current dentist said that my mouth is so obviously well-cared for because my gums are generally healthy and good. I'm just pissed and sad. I don't want to wear dentures. And it's not because of the vanity thing, though that's a part of it. To me wearing dentures means I didn't care of myself. Since I've been diagnosed with diabetes, my whole life has changed and I've worked very hard to take care of myself from my feet to my mouth. Someone's ineptitude may sink a lot of that to shit and that makes me furious. I'm here busting my ass, so some dentist can make $ off my mouth and she does a for SHIT job of it. Today, I'm taking Russell to a pediatric dentist to get his cavity repaired and to find out about getting his baby teeth pulled so they're unhooked off his impaired permanent tooth, so he can actually brush the damned thing. Poor kid has never had the thrill of the sound of a drill grinding away and echoing in his head, producing the same physical sensation of someone running their long acrylic nails down a chalkboard. I recently experienced that icky shiver of horror with my first cavity filled under this new dentist's care. I had to have the dentist stop a minute because she was using a particularly shivery drill bit and it was making my septum tickle and itch. I did this weird shrug thing and she stopped. She asked if I was in pain. Embarrassed, I said,"No, it was tickling." I will probably have to file suit to get any money towards the damage done to my teeth by our previous dentist. Mostly, though, I just hope all her teeth fall out and she has to eat pureed food in her old age.
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