April 05, 2006
Long in the tooth
One thing I NEVER did in the Netherlands and which is now coming back to BITE me big-time (pun intended) is go to the dentist. Five years. Without going to the dentist.
It wasn't for any particular reason but a combination of the difficulty of finding a dentist who'll add you to their list in Amsterdam, the waiting period for appointments and the assumption that as we were always on the verge of coming back to Melbourne I could always wait until then. Of course, 'then' turned out to be a bit further away than we had planned. Luckily I have teeth of steel, and in 40 years have only had one eensy-weensy-filling that was soooooooo small they didn't even give me an anaesthetic.
Sadly, my gums have not proven to be quite so invincible.
What started out as a check up has turned into two cleaning sessions, two x-rays and potentially three fillings. I'm three visits in and NOT enjoying this at all. And ALL of it is down to simply missing the once-a-year clean. The fillings are small and all a result of plaque building up on the gum line. They certainly wouldn't have happenned if I had been having my annual check up duirng the last five years. The cleaning is rigorous and uncomfortable and there is some permanent shrinking of the gums due to the extended period without cleans. 'Long-in-the-tooth' is no longer just an expression but is staring back at me from the mirror every morning.
Now, how dumb is that! Just to prove a point, one of the holes is in one of my wisdom tooth which as I see it is the only possible explanation for how I allowed all this to happen.
(As I mentioned below I have removed the comments facility, you can email comments to you-know-where)
Posted by Faith