Nekkid, Clueless and Feelin' Good: June 4, 2001

Monday,
June 4, 2001

It's good to have a charming dentist

You know, I really should get used to the idea that your average dentist doesn't want the patient to be flopping about in pain, and will take the necessary time to make sure that whatever needs to be numbed is totally dead to the world, my first adult dental experience notwithstanding (I still wonder how he expected to perform a root canal with only one shot of novocaine in the hinge of my jaw).

Yeah, I went in to get my crown prep today. And I have to say, all nervousness to the contrary, it was purty damn near a painless experience. I don't have a problem with the initial novocaine shots, he wound up using topical anesthetic at my jaw hinge anyway, and the only time there was any discomfort (not even really pain -- I just felt the drill more sharply) he stopped immediately and shot me up with some more number. Man, talk about a relief and a half.

For those of you who haven't gone through this sort of thing, a crown is essentially a fake cover put on a tooth if it's been damaged or had a root canal. My original root canal was changing color and aching, so when I went in to Dr. Schultz six weeks ago he said that the tooth was cracking and letting in all kinds of gunk, and that I had to have it crowned.

Part one happened today. In a two-hour session, he took a mold of my upper and lower teeth, drilled out all the gunk, continued to grind down the tooth until it was terraced into two levels, and created a temporary acrylic crown. In three weeks, I go back to have the permanent metal and porcelain crown cemented onto the tooth stub, as well as have the opposite molar cleaned of a cavity.

All the while, Dr. Schultz joked with me and the dental assistant about another patient who was a romance writer and used to put him in her books as the bad guy, and I told the chortling assistant the story about my first experience with contraceptive devices (an experimental cervical cap, which required dental compound around my cervix and a grinning consultant dentist in the background). In other words, it was kinda fun. Name me the last time you actually enjoyed your time in the dental chair.

By the way, if you live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and need a dentist par excellance, he's Dr. Tommy Schultz, 291 W. Renner Rd, Richardson, TX, 972-234-0626. Tell him the science fiction writer sent you.

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