Music, Baby, and Dentist

Behold, the greatest jukebox of all time:



That's right boys and girls, friends and neighbors, this is Maxine's jukebox. Some of the songs have changed since I frequented the place, but most of them are still the same.

I really have no reason for posting that other than I really like that jukebox.

OK, now on to baby stuff. Junior poops, sleeps, cries, pees, and does all of the above most frequently at inconvenient times. Any questions? Ok, so on to my rant:

I went to the dentist today. A seemingly mundane activity to be sure. However, my dentist is a sheister (sic).

Mamma and I have never had any tooth problems (we only have one tooth each so it cuts down on the number of teeth wherein a problem may occur). NEVER. Never had cavities. Never...never...never....Ok, you get the picture. Mamma is downright anal about mouth maintenence (should you really put "anal" and "mouth" in the same sentence?). She brushes 4 times (count 'em...1...2...3...4) a day: 2 x in the morning and 2 x in the evening. Me on the other hand, I'm less anal. I brush once a day, floss semi-regularly, and still have no problems. Never have (did you get that...never had any problems).

Well, the second time Mamma went to our dentist up here she was told that she had about 30 places in her mouth that looked like they were going to develop into cavities. Mamma came home in a foul mood that night (thanks there Mr. Dentist) and informed me that our dentist sucked.

I sided with the dentist and told her that she might just need to brush better (ha ha!). However, the next time I went to see this guy, he told me that I had a molar that had worn down and it needed to be filled before it wore down to the nerve. Ok, I used to grind my teeth as a kid and my back molars are a little worn down so I thought that he could be right.

I go in the day of the "procedure" for my first dental work. I never understood why people hate the dentist...until THAT day. I sit down in the chair and "The Butcher" tells me that he has to take the drill and rough up the tooth a little so the filling stuff will stick. He has to drill little holes in the tooth too. However, he says that he doesn't think he's going to have to go that deep. Therefore, he's not going to numb my mouth.

I think this sounds pretty good b/c I hate needles. So he begins and promptly drills right into a nerve. I jump and remember looking up at him and deciding I would probably get sued if I got up and broke his jaw....but it would be really ironic.

He apologizes, gives me a shot, and continues. No harm no foul I suppose.

Mamma then talks to a co-worker of hers who tells her that she used to go to "The Butcher" but switched to another dentist b/c "The Butcher" said that she needed a lot of work done. When she went to the other dentist, she was informed that her teeth were fine.

Needless to say, this got us thinking.

Long story longer: I go back to "The Butcher" today and get my teeth cleaned by the hygenist. She tells me that my teeth look great. No problems! Everything is fine! "The Butcher" comes in and tells me I have a cavity and he recommends I have it filled. Now, this is my first cavity. I have no pain in my mouth. No problems.

I ask him, "What tooth?"

He stammers for a split second and says, "The top, far back left tooth."

"I don't have any pain." I say.

He replies, "I'm just tring to get it done before you start having pain. It's preventative."

Let me tell you something, mofo: YOU DON'T DRILL PREVENTATIVELY! That's like having your appendix removed preventatively b/c you MIGHT get appendicitis.

Let's suppose for the sake of argument that there actually is a cavity there. You're saying I should let you drill so that I prevent the pain of the cavity when it gets worse? Perhaps you forgot the Mikita you took to my mouth last year without numbing me first!

Now, what's more likely is that there is NOT a cavity there. In talking with Mamma afterwards we recalled that we have only once had someone else in the waiting room with us while awaiting our appt time. Further, every time I've been there I've heard someone getting drilled on in another room while the hygenist was cleaning my teeth (tooth). This guy runs a low volume, high profit job shop! What a great deal for him. He doesn't have the stress of seeing that many patients and he just power tools away on as many as he possibly can.

Really, why see 100 patients to make $50,000 when you can see 50 patients and make $50,000. Ethics be damned!

So anyway, I'm almost about to laugh in his face and he asks me what I'm thinking. I tell him that I'm not too thrilled with his diagnosis. We walk out of the room and he tells me, "You need to go ahead and schedule a time to get that filling."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that..."

Needless to say I didn't schedule any more appts. Mamma has her appt tomorrow AM. That should be interesting. She won't be scheduling any more appts either.

Oh yeah, one more thing, b/c Mamma's work is run by cheapskates and I am on a graduate student's insurance policy (the best thing about a graduate student's insurance policy is that my general practitioner is THE COLLEGE DOCTOR'S OFFICE...yeah, those guys are the best doctors out there...you could go in there with a broken leg and they would diagnose you with a spider bite), we don't have dental insurance. Therefore, if "The Butcher" performs work on us, he get's to charge us full price and he gets cash right then and there. If we had dental insurance, he would have to discount his price and would receive his money later....

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Point being, there aren't too many people in the world willing to put their hands in your mouth that you should trust.