Maybe I need some thicker skin...

Or maybe I really don't like people talking about my dental shortcomings.

I went to my dentist appointment this past Thursday. I have to go to a new dentist because my previous (nice!) one is not contracted with my new insurance.

This guy is really close to my mom's neighborhood so I figured it would be vaguely convenient but his videos that he put up on YouTube are not very pleasing in regards to his manner. He seemed like a very stiff person, unsmiling and comfortable. At first I tried to make an appointment with a dentist who is literally across the street from my job but apparently they were "closed out" to new patients with my insurance. So I went to the stiff dentist.

Granted he was a competent dentist, he and his staff did all that they were supposed to but I was used to be old dentist, who was very well aware that most people (myself included) HATE going to the dentist. He and his wife/receptionist used to go out of his way to speak to a patient conversationally and ensured that a patient felt calm and comfortable.

This new guy felt no need to and just went to work. And the first thing he started talking about what how much trouble my teeth are/hypothetically were. He commented on how I had four extractions, I have gaps left in my upper teeth that still  need to be closed and went on to tell me I have a long long way to go with my braces yet. That I am a difficult patient who requires a lot of work.

I hate when dentists do that. I know very well how difficult my teeth are, I've lived with them my entire life. Talking about them or just having them on display is enough to make me very self conscious about them. It's comments like that from previous dentists that ultimately caused me to not see a dentist for nine years. I hated being the subject of conversation when the conversation is basically, "Damn, you're all kinds of fucked up."

Happily I don't have to see another dentist for another six months or so, so hopefully by then I'll have found a different dentist, or even be able to return to my much nicer dentist.
*************************

Great news at my adjustment today!

Just got out of an adjustment appointment. I told my orthodontist that I have two problems and one question that hopefully she can address.

The first problem is that a steel ligature on my lower right lateral incisor is sticking out and poking me uncomfortably. The offending ligature was trimmed and tucked under the arch wire a bit more nearly.

The second problem was that the difficulty in putting on my elastics on the upper right side due to the close proximity of the ligature to where the elastic should go instead. My orthodontist changed it so that half of the bracket is attached to the arch wife via ligature leaving the other half open to give me a little more room to work with.

Finally I posed a hypothetical situation to her. If this was my first visit, I came in for a consult with my teeth in this position… I didn't even get to the question when she said she would not even bother putting braces on me I'm that close to the end. I asked for a ballpark estimate of when they would be off and she said it would definitely be within the year!

CAN I GET A WOOHOO?!
*************************