More time and money I don't want to spend

[ppfuf]

Damn. I had my twice-yearly dental cleaning this morning. My old dentist has moved to Washington. He left his practice to a new dentist (arg! he looks like he's 20!) who I saw for the first time today. He seemed pleasant, competent, thorough, and has small hands; something I appreciate in a dentist.
But being young, he's a techie and distrusting of old technologies. Apparently, some of my 20 year old dental work is no longer up to snuff. And I should get a one of those swanky new electric toothbrushes, and fancy new mouthwash. Sigh. I knew this day was coming, but I had been hoping to put it off a year or two. Actually, I do get to put some of it off until next year, as everything he wants to do is going to overrun my dental insurance's maximum output. The patient manager is going to call me this afternoon with a two-year plan. Maybe I'll just stay in denial and let the call go to voice mail. This is the sucky part of adulthood.

Comments

[allison-is.livejournal.com]

any medical/dental issue is the sucky part of adulthood, but the same thing happened with my optometrist. My new one tries to talk me into Lasik every year.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

My dentist/peridontist who is at least my age if not more, advised me to get an electric brush. It helps protect the gums against receeding. It seems to be doing a good job. The whole family is using it (with different heads) so it's not like I spent $80 on just my toothbrush, which comforts my stingy side.

Check up on the things he wants to do to your dental work otherwise. Back a while ago I did some reading about amalgam fillings, and the advice was to leave them alone unless they are giving you obvious problems. If it's other dental work he's advocating, I have no other advice than to do your research. ;)

[tafelspitz.livejournal.com]

I just had a crown replaced earlier this week. Insurance covered less than half. And yes. My dentist is also young and has taken over the practice from my previous dentist.

[aastg.livejournal.com]

A young dentist is not only up on all the latest advances, he's also running a business. What work is actually necessary *right now*? What's going to help your quality life now and later?

Adulthood not only sucks because your systems wear out, it sucks because you have to become wily about spending.

[catagon3.livejournal.com]

My dentist replaced all of my childhood fillings over several years. They were all the metalic kind. One of them was visibly broken, so I guess that one really did need it. Still hated having to spend that much money, sorry you have to, too.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I have heard of these things called fillings, but never experienced them.

[xrian.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of dental work done when I was in junior high and high school by a dentist who at that time was close to retirement age. You can imagine how things have changed since then!

Yes, the electric toothbrush has been very much worth it for me. Using it steadily for two plus years has taken my gum health from borderline-dreadful to good, and it continues to improve. *AND* I have only had one new cavity since I started using it, and it was so superficial that the entire appointment to get it filled -- from the time I walked in the door till I walked out -- took 15 minutes.

I've also been through the experience of having a new dentist tell me I needed all sorts of stuff. I trust my current dentist, and this was his explanation: (1) A new dentist has often learned to treat things that a previous dentist never mentioned to you because they didn't have a good treatment for them. My "new" dentist told me I had several stress-cracks in my back teeth, which didn't used to be fixable, but are now, *and* are also much more preventable for the future. And (2) Your new dentist doesn't know your history, so they may see something that the previous dentist was "just keeping an eye on" because it was not immediately crucial and not getting worse, and think that it needs to be fixed right now. For instance, I have a tooth that was prepped for a crown about three years ago, and hasn't got a crown yet because the post and porcelain filling have apparently been holding up just fine. A new dentist might well see that three-year lifespan in my records and feel that it never should have been left incomplete so long. YMMV.