Tuesday 23rd April: A month after I knocked out my fillings, it is hurting just a bit.
Trip to Christie Dental for a 2nd opinion. 39$ new patient exam, sans x-ray because I have quite a recent one. What I liked about Christie is that they gave me a sheet detailing what is wrong with each tooth + their estimate for it. Now stupid me mixed up rights and lefts.. hell i am an engineer and was exposed to this numbering few days ago. Now the thing is I have lost fillings in the 6th tooth on L + R from centre in the lower jaw (numbered 19 and 30, and 30 is the one which is aching + the one Aspen lady said could grow to a root canal + the filling is from back surface and so I cannot see how bad it is = paranoia). Thanks to the mixup, i got appointment to fix 19, which means I am spending 300$ more to cover something which isnt so serious.
Friday 26th April:
Step 1: Dentist's assistant dabs a pre-number on a big earbud-like thing and i am to hold it for 5 mins. I gag on it in the first minute. The lady replaces it with a smaller earbud. Few mins later, doc walks in with a machine that will give me the "shot" of the "real" anaesthetic. Wait for a long time for numbing to kick in.
Step 2: drilling ..the scariest thing for me
Step 3: Doc cleans the cavity with "hypochloride". I see the instrument which he uses. This is my 1st indication that the cavity is not a teeny weeny cavity that it originally was but a gaping hole by now.
Step 4: Filling in , light cure, test bite and I am out.
Step 5: I ask to see a mirror. Shock Shock Shock, for a little cavity, I have lost a large part of my tooth. The filling now covers not only a teeny weeny 2 mm max hole but covers half my tooth. No wonder the bite feels off.
The bite is meant to interlock the triangular serration of tooth with ridges in the opposite tooth. The filling is not a ridgy topography but a flat/ straight one. That's how my bite is off. Like my upper jaw is hanging on a single tooth instead of the 16 teeth that usually support it.
Step 6: I go back in and ask to be fixed. It still doesnt feel perfect, but I am too numb.
Takes about 4-5 hours for the numbness to wear off. I eat a burger for lunch. Bite is definitely off. Thanks to the elevated filling thing, my biting surface is reduced to only 2 teeth instead of the 6 sets of molars. Call the office for another appointment to refix my teeth.
Conclusions:
1. Indian dentist can accurately fill a 2mm cavity with 2 mm filling.
2. I now realize what that "crown" was all about. The US crown is not what an Indian dentist will put after a root canal, a US crown is a filling that covers your teeth and basically renders it useless unless it is going to be fixed in the next appointment.
Trip to Christie Dental for a 2nd opinion. 39$ new patient exam, sans x-ray because I have quite a recent one. What I liked about Christie is that they gave me a sheet detailing what is wrong with each tooth + their estimate for it. Now stupid me mixed up rights and lefts.. hell i am an engineer and was exposed to this numbering few days ago. Now the thing is I have lost fillings in the 6th tooth on L + R from centre in the lower jaw (numbered 19 and 30, and 30 is the one which is aching + the one Aspen lady said could grow to a root canal + the filling is from back surface and so I cannot see how bad it is = paranoia). Thanks to the mixup, i got appointment to fix 19, which means I am spending 300$ more to cover something which isnt so serious.
Friday 26th April:
Step 1: Dentist's assistant dabs a pre-number on a big earbud-like thing and i am to hold it for 5 mins. I gag on it in the first minute. The lady replaces it with a smaller earbud. Few mins later, doc walks in with a machine that will give me the "shot" of the "real" anaesthetic. Wait for a long time for numbing to kick in.
Step 2: drilling ..the scariest thing for me
Step 3: Doc cleans the cavity with "hypochloride". I see the instrument which he uses. This is my 1st indication that the cavity is not a teeny weeny cavity that it originally was but a gaping hole by now.
Step 4: Filling in , light cure, test bite and I am out.
Step 5: I ask to see a mirror. Shock Shock Shock, for a little cavity, I have lost a large part of my tooth. The filling now covers not only a teeny weeny 2 mm max hole but covers half my tooth. No wonder the bite feels off.
The bite is meant to interlock the triangular serration of tooth with ridges in the opposite tooth. The filling is not a ridgy topography but a flat/ straight one. That's how my bite is off. Like my upper jaw is hanging on a single tooth instead of the 16 teeth that usually support it.
Step 6: I go back in and ask to be fixed. It still doesnt feel perfect, but I am too numb.
Takes about 4-5 hours for the numbness to wear off. I eat a burger for lunch. Bite is definitely off. Thanks to the elevated filling thing, my biting surface is reduced to only 2 teeth instead of the 6 sets of molars. Call the office for another appointment to refix my teeth.
Conclusions:
1. Indian dentist can accurately fill a 2mm cavity with 2 mm filling.
2. I now realize what that "crown" was all about. The US crown is not what an Indian dentist will put after a root canal, a US crown is a filling that covers your teeth and basically renders it useless unless it is going to be fixed in the next appointment.
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