Thursday 14 April 2011

Costly chocolate

Actually the chocolate was free, a Christmas present from my niece that I've only just got round to eating.  So, yesterday afternoon, with a cup of tea, I thought a bit of chocolate would be nice.  So I unwrapped it (it's dark hard stuff in the shape of a reindeer) and took a bite.  There was a crunchy kind of noise as a massive filling came out of one of my lower right teeth.

'Ah', I thought, and phoned the dentist.  The nice lady asked me if it hurt, and when I said no gave me an appointment for next Monday (having established that I was two years overdue for a check-up).

When I woke up this morning, though, I found that the meagre remains of the tooth were wobbling around all over the place whenever I touched it with my tongue or my upper teeth.  I can't be doing with that for four days, I thought, and called the dentist again.  I told a few lies about it hurting (it didn't really) and got a slot for two o'clock today, which I've just come back from.  I'll spare you the details, except to say those injections don't seem to work as well as they used to.  But I have a set of 'post-operative instructions', one of which is 'No alcohol for 24 hours', bah!  Among the instructions not given are how to eat, how to clean your teeth and anything about painkillers or not poking your tongue in the hole.  But I'll improvise my way through all that.  Soup sounds like a good idea.

The cost of that bit of delicious chocolate, then, was £47 for the dentist's five minutes of admittedly fairly strenuous work.  And he kept the tooth.

7 comments:

  1. I gave up eating toffee some years ago, for the same reason.

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  2. to be honest Tim I would have asked for the tooth back , at least you would have something to show for £47 and then send it to your niece and tell her to pay you £47 for it !!! As for not drinking alcohol surely getting drunk would take any pain away !! So soup and then alcohol sounds good to me but no leek or potato or veggy soup perhaps tomato is best !!
    Valerie

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  3. Just paid $130 for a 'clean' which was more painful than the real stuff.

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  4. Oh, that's nothing. I was charged 50 euros for drilling and an X-ray and in May am going to be charged the price of a small car for a new bridge. And...I am not allowed to eat any hazlenuts...which happen to be a large part of breakfast normally.

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  5. Dave - yeah, soft centres only here from now on.
    Kezia - I took the tomato soup advice, but not the alcohol. Woke up clearheaded at 2 am, brain going like a buzzsaw. I'm not doing that again.
    ElizT - oh hell, I've got that coming too!
    Rosie - I'm missing my cashew nuts.

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  6. I am with ElizT cleaning is more painful and I am positive the hygenist make holes where there were not any before so therefore when I go and visit the dentist he has to fill them - they are in cahoots I just know it !!!
    Hope you are on the mend Tim and do stop putting your tongue in the hole !!!!
    Valerie

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  7. And then...my dentist (Arturo ((honest)) said I chew too hard and I close my mouth too much when I'm cycling and drawing????!! And he laughed. This is the first time in twelve years that I'v seen him laugh...

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