Icky dental things

Today I'm recovering from a big sleepy-bye dental adventure yesterday. Extractions of two broken crowns, a root canal prep for another crown, and various other Very Scary Things. I am grateful that they pampered me. (No one in this area does laughing gas, and my previous dentist moved to Perth...)

I became very dental phobic as a young kid, and several years of secret teen rebelliousness (ie. not brushing often) resulted in massive amounts of silver fillings in my early 20s, which set me on a path to oral destruction. Being needle phobic doesn't help either.

Unfortunately, I found the more gentle/kind wave of younger dentists way too late in life to cure me of my phobias, but nitrous oxide was the only way to get me through some the really difficult years, and having all those awful silver fillings replaced by the newer technologies. Mind you, gas never works as well as that very first time; my current dentist likens laughing gas to heroin. Your second or third, or any subsequent hit, will never be as... glorious as that first one. (Ah, I still remember. 80s dentistry hurt, but you just didn't care.)

So, yeah, yesterday's general anaesthetic experience was actually very civilized, and my mouth is surprisingly okay. They were removing roots, since the crowns had already broken away - "mechanical" failure rather than decay, but that wasn't totally reassuring - so what would have been awful even with nitrous oxide, is blissfully not even a memorythanks to the full anaesthetic.

Vet veteran

Jack: Did you say The Doctor? Let's hide in here!

Yesterday, my Jack Russell terrier, Jack, had his annual vet checkup and, just as I described it last year, he again marched in, full of bravado, through the front doors, realised where we were, did an about-face - and ran straight back out!

For a dog breed that presents itself as utterly invincible, Jack Russells sure are wimps when it comes to vets. (And autumn leaves blowing in the wind.) The vet checked his teeth for tartar buildup (he had teeth scaling in early 2007) and they were in fine condition. Although he wasn't itchy today, I asked for a new course of the tablets we tried last year for the next time his grass allergy flairs up.

We did emerge victorious and fully immunized for another year, but I know he'd much rather be phoning in his attendance in future. Sounds like my relationship with my dentist. (Who moved to Perth, so now I have to break in a new one.)

Sunday's magic number: 94.4 - slowly, slowly... But I just looked up last year's post-vet scenario, it also fell on a Sunday. The first day of my renewed diet (when I was calling the results "mystery" numbers), so 94.4 makes me much happier than the 99 of a year ago. I heard a radio interview on MIX 106.5 this morning reminding dieters that the aim was to increase metabolism to burn fat, not just to reduce portion size and calorie counts. (What, no mention of donuts?)