Fun at the Free Dentist
That was quite a weekend.
I'd packed up for the DucKon (a science-fiction/fantasy convention in the northern Chicago suburb of Wheeling) on Thursday evening so I could leave directly from field school. But I forgot the directions I'd printed out. Fortunately, we got out early on Friday, so I stopped in at home, changed, got directions and embarked. I met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lisagems who was already there at her table in the dealers' room. I was sharing a room with her, plus our friend Pen who was there with her husband and son. It's been a long time since I slept five people to a hotel room, but it wasn't bad. Lisa and I got one bed, and with our schedules, there was never any waiting for the bathroom.
Anyway, I was going to Lake Geneva for the dental clinic early Saturday morning, so I figured I'd just stay up 'till 2 or 3 at the parties, then leave from there. Sadly, there were only two room parties happening that night, neither of which were terribly interesting.danaeris had arrived by the evening, and she and I looked around the party floor hoping for interesting conversation. But one party was full of music too loud to reasonably talk over, and the other was not terribly engaging. Fortunately, we found a couple in the gaming room who were pretty engaging themselves, and we ended up playing games with them 'till late in the night. I think. My memory is a little bit fuzzy right now after the rest of the events of the weekend.
I left for Lake Geneva around two o' clock since there wasn't a lot else going on. I got there after a pleasant night drive of about an hour and camped out on the sidewalk. I juggled for a while, but eventually put my head on my backpack and took a nap for an hour or so. The clinic was supposed to open at 5:30, but they were nice enough to let us in the high school it was being held in a bit early due to rain. I was number 160-something in line.
I pointed out the two problem areas in my mouth. Triage determined I needed to have a filling/restoration done on the upper left (this is where I thought I'd lost a small pieces of tooth earlier; turns out it might have been a filling that came out), and an extraction on the upper right. The latter was tooth "C", a baby tooth that, like my dad's in the same position, just never came out. Several people commented on that unusual, though not unheard of, event.
They prioritized the extraction first, but staff further on in the process said that they can't do a filling after an extraction due to potential for stuff getting into the socket, so it was off to the line for restoration work. The numbing and filling went really smoothly, but I caused myself a problem at the end. The dentist was checking the height of the filling, and had me bite down on marking paper to see where my teeth were touching. When she had me bite on the side opposite the filling, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to just bite straight down, or kind of angle my mouth to make sure my teeth connected. I did the latter, and ended up with a filling that was rather too high. But I didn't realize that until later when the numbing wore off.
So from there I went through the line again, this time for extraction. Throughout the waiting process, I chatted a bit with people in line. I met a girl who was really nervous about the dental work and who was into cosplay and things. I met a guy who I wasn't surprised to learn played D&D; he looked like a stereotypical older bearded gamer. (His politics were a bit right-leaning. I listened and tried to offer an understanding alternative viewpoint, but I was kind of glad when he was called up for dental work and the conversation, which was mildly stressing me, ended.) I had several people tell me how much they enjoyed watching my juggle while waiting in line; that made me feel pretty good.
The numbing was more intense for the extraction than the filling. A topical gel got my gums numb, and was followed by several injections. I was a little nervous; after both anesthetic sessions, I felt a little light-headed, but especially after the second one. I'd never reacted that way to a local before, but I suspect it was related to lack of sleep plus lack of food. I'd brushed my teeth and used my mouthwash before leaving and had decided not to have food afterward. As it turned out, there was some food distributed to people in line, so I did have a piece of cold pizza around 6 in the morning. But still, it had been about ten hours with little to eat and I was running on an hour of fitful, on-the-sidewalk sleep. I'm not surprised my body was behaving a little oddly.
The extraction itself was quick and easy. The surgeon looked into my mouth and pointed the tooth out to her assistant. "It's a baby tooth," she said, as I felt pressure against it from her tool. "Look, it wiggles."
"That was easy," said the assistant, after a quick back and forth tug.
"Wait," I sad. "It's out already?" Yes, it was done that quickly. The surgeon asked if I wanted to keep the tooth. A bit nonplussed, I said "Uh, sure." It's now in my pocket. Maybe I'll photograph it so you can see the big hole in it.
During that process, I mentioned the problem with my filling. There was some discussion about that, and the staff were kind enough to take me back over to the restoration area and let me bypass the bulk of the line so they could do some quick grinding. I didn't need numbing; they just put me in a chair and spent a minute or so with the drill doing adjustments and I was all set. At first, I wasn't sure if it was worth following up on since I thought I'd have to go through the line again. But I'm really glad I did. It really was pretty high, and I think I might have cracked it if I ground my teeth in my sleep as I sometimes do.
The whole clinic and all its staff I dealt with were wonderful, awesome, tremendously friendly, very caring people. I'm so grateful that they do this work, and I'm going to find a few appropriate places to write letters to to say so. Once I'm feeling more myself.
I really wish that I had a picture of myself immediately post-surgery. Part of my picture-a-day project has been to just document myself as I go through day-to-day life, and if I had a picture of a dazed-looking, sleep-deprived me with bloody gauze between my lips, it really would be a pretty accurate summation of my day. But I didn't have my cameras, and my cell phone doesn't have a camera. So it goes.
I finally left Lake Geneva for the convention at around 1 in the afternoon, having been there for ten hours. I was tired, stressed, hungry, and physically exhausted. I'll write about how that trip went in my next entry.
I'd packed up for the DucKon (a science-fiction/fantasy convention in the northern Chicago suburb of Wheeling) on Thursday evening so I could leave directly from field school. But I forgot the directions I'd printed out. Fortunately, we got out early on Friday, so I stopped in at home, changed, got directions and embarked. I met up with
lisagems who was already there at her table in the dealers' room. I was sharing a room with her, plus our friend Pen who was there with her husband and son. It's been a long time since I slept five people to a hotel room, but it wasn't bad. Lisa and I got one bed, and with our schedules, there was never any waiting for the bathroom. Anyway, I was going to Lake Geneva for the dental clinic early Saturday morning, so I figured I'd just stay up 'till 2 or 3 at the parties, then leave from there. Sadly, there were only two room parties happening that night, neither of which were terribly interesting.
danaeris had arrived by the evening, and she and I looked around the party floor hoping for interesting conversation. But one party was full of music too loud to reasonably talk over, and the other was not terribly engaging. Fortunately, we found a couple in the gaming room who were pretty engaging themselves, and we ended up playing games with them 'till late in the night. I think. My memory is a little bit fuzzy right now after the rest of the events of the weekend.I left for Lake Geneva around two o' clock since there wasn't a lot else going on. I got there after a pleasant night drive of about an hour and camped out on the sidewalk. I juggled for a while, but eventually put my head on my backpack and took a nap for an hour or so. The clinic was supposed to open at 5:30, but they were nice enough to let us in the high school it was being held in a bit early due to rain. I was number 160-something in line.
I pointed out the two problem areas in my mouth. Triage determined I needed to have a filling/restoration done on the upper left (this is where I thought I'd lost a small pieces of tooth earlier; turns out it might have been a filling that came out), and an extraction on the upper right. The latter was tooth "C", a baby tooth that, like my dad's in the same position, just never came out. Several people commented on that unusual, though not unheard of, event.
They prioritized the extraction first, but staff further on in the process said that they can't do a filling after an extraction due to potential for stuff getting into the socket, so it was off to the line for restoration work. The numbing and filling went really smoothly, but I caused myself a problem at the end. The dentist was checking the height of the filling, and had me bite down on marking paper to see where my teeth were touching. When she had me bite on the side opposite the filling, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to just bite straight down, or kind of angle my mouth to make sure my teeth connected. I did the latter, and ended up with a filling that was rather too high. But I didn't realize that until later when the numbing wore off.
So from there I went through the line again, this time for extraction. Throughout the waiting process, I chatted a bit with people in line. I met a girl who was really nervous about the dental work and who was into cosplay and things. I met a guy who I wasn't surprised to learn played D&D; he looked like a stereotypical older bearded gamer. (His politics were a bit right-leaning. I listened and tried to offer an understanding alternative viewpoint, but I was kind of glad when he was called up for dental work and the conversation, which was mildly stressing me, ended.) I had several people tell me how much they enjoyed watching my juggle while waiting in line; that made me feel pretty good.
The numbing was more intense for the extraction than the filling. A topical gel got my gums numb, and was followed by several injections. I was a little nervous; after both anesthetic sessions, I felt a little light-headed, but especially after the second one. I'd never reacted that way to a local before, but I suspect it was related to lack of sleep plus lack of food. I'd brushed my teeth and used my mouthwash before leaving and had decided not to have food afterward. As it turned out, there was some food distributed to people in line, so I did have a piece of cold pizza around 6 in the morning. But still, it had been about ten hours with little to eat and I was running on an hour of fitful, on-the-sidewalk sleep. I'm not surprised my body was behaving a little oddly.
The extraction itself was quick and easy. The surgeon looked into my mouth and pointed the tooth out to her assistant. "It's a baby tooth," she said, as I felt pressure against it from her tool. "Look, it wiggles."
"That was easy," said the assistant, after a quick back and forth tug.
"Wait," I sad. "It's out already?" Yes, it was done that quickly. The surgeon asked if I wanted to keep the tooth. A bit nonplussed, I said "Uh, sure." It's now in my pocket. Maybe I'll photograph it so you can see the big hole in it.
During that process, I mentioned the problem with my filling. There was some discussion about that, and the staff were kind enough to take me back over to the restoration area and let me bypass the bulk of the line so they could do some quick grinding. I didn't need numbing; they just put me in a chair and spent a minute or so with the drill doing adjustments and I was all set. At first, I wasn't sure if it was worth following up on since I thought I'd have to go through the line again. But I'm really glad I did. It really was pretty high, and I think I might have cracked it if I ground my teeth in my sleep as I sometimes do.
The whole clinic and all its staff I dealt with were wonderful, awesome, tremendously friendly, very caring people. I'm so grateful that they do this work, and I'm going to find a few appropriate places to write letters to to say so. Once I'm feeling more myself.
I really wish that I had a picture of myself immediately post-surgery. Part of my picture-a-day project has been to just document myself as I go through day-to-day life, and if I had a picture of a dazed-looking, sleep-deprived me with bloody gauze between my lips, it really would be a pretty accurate summation of my day. But I didn't have my cameras, and my cell phone doesn't have a camera. So it goes.
I finally left Lake Geneva for the convention at around 1 in the afternoon, having been there for ten hours. I was tired, stressed, hungry, and physically exhausted. I'll write about how that trip went in my next entry.
