My first exam–not too bad!

Woo-wee…what a night! So I had my first dental exam in like, a decade, and got my first set of impressions. Let me first start from the beginning… Of course, just like last time, I first walk in to see Jennifer sitting there smiling. Always a welcoming scene—not like some medical offices where you walk in and the lady behind the counter doesn’t acknowledge your mere existence until you sign the clipboard. I have to admit, I was nervous all over again, but only because I really didn’t want to know how many cavities I have (we’ll go into that later), but for some reason it was all shaken off no sooner had I hung up my coat. So Dr. Gibberman comes in smiling as well and off we go (I’d have to say that either everyone there loves their job or they are just generally happy people—perhaps it’s both). First things first—photos. For the first time in my life every picture I showed my teeth. Well, I had to, but it still felt funny. All I could think was, “Next time we do this, it’s gonna be perfect!” I had a few standing up, then in the chair with these funny plastic things that pulled my lips away for a shot of it all—teeth and gums. Now I don’t know if times have changed since my last dental appointment or if Dr. Gibberman is just this good, but a few seconds later, up comes my pictures on a computer screen in the room. There I sat, staring at my jacked up, gapping, stained grill. Ugh—I wanted to drill my own teeth out! “No! Hold the Novocain; I deserve the agony for what I have my mouth through!” I was a bit comforted when he told me it’s really not that bad, which I thought, “Well, I have seen worse too, and he is the professional!” Sounds bad of me, but hey, I’m being honest here. Anyways, so next comes the exam. I sat back and let the good times roll. Ya’ll, I’m telling you, this man is awesome. He really knows his stuff, and it doesn’t even feel like you are sitting in a dentist’s chair. You know that feeling when you are super comfortable with a doctor? That’s what you get with him. He explained everything he was doing, what’s good and bad, told me to let him know if anything hurt—you get the picture. So I get my exam, and after a number of cavities found that I’d rather not state, I was ready for my impressions and x-rays. Again, awesome thing with the computer screen—the x-rays popped up right there in front of me. Pretty crazy. So there I sat, looking at that damn tooth that’s just sitting there chilling in my pallet causing all these problems for me. And there was this stupid little baby tooth, hanging on for dear life with a bit a root. Grrr, I was honestly angry at my baby tooth. At any rate, next came the impressions—actually pretty fast. It reminded me of the colored spackle that is pink in the container but turns white when it dries. Of course this stuff dried in like 30 seconds and wasn’t as nasty. After a quick clean up, I was on my way! So here is what I found out: First of all, I apparently grind my teeth, which as you know, is not a good thing. Second, I have cavities—a lot. Third, my gums are in good shape, except for one of my back wisdom teeth and the tissue around that (nothing some careful flossing can’t fix). Fourth, there is a possibility of getting an implant where the baby cuspate is rather than the bridge, but we gotta talk to the oral surgeon and get their opinion. Fifth, I’m on my way to perfect teeth! There you have it. I go back next Monday for my consult to go over everything and make a decision on what exactly we are gonna do. Yeah! I can’t wait! I guess it goes to show he is great when I can’t wait for a week to pass to go to the dentist again! Till’ next time….