{"id":2769,"date":"2024-06-22T21:09:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-23T01:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/?p=2769"},"modified":"2024-06-22T21:09:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T01:09:38","slug":"low-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/22\/low-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"low tech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I don\u2019t know of anyone that likes<\/em> going to the dentist, but I don\u2019t usually mind it too much.\u00a0 I had stopped going for a while and started again when I realized I needed to do something about the headaches I was getting every morning from grinding my teeth. And I found a dentist that had an office 5 minutes away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently had my third appointment at the nearby dentist and it started off with x-rays.  But not just regular x-rays – these were the more \u201ccomprehensive\u201d variety that are done every 3-5 years.  Since this was only my third time at this practice, I would have expected those to have been done at my first visit.  But, since the insurance was paying for it, I didn\u2019t balk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except these were really uncomfortable and involved an apparatus that looked like a old-school death-ray shoved into my mouth.\u00a0 The technician said I did a good job once she was finally done and released me from the lead blanket – but she was also a little snarky while it was going on so I wasn\u2019t really excited about her praise.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, I\u2019m happy they gave me the lead blanket to protect my torso from x-rays – but I\u2019d also kinda rather not have cancer in my head. So, I dunno what to do about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hygienist made her usual one-sided small talk while cleaning my teeth and I tried to maintain the conversation with both of her hands in my mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. I\u2019m going to bring signs next time – a Yes|No sign should get the job done.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. A tiny mirror, a metal pick, one hose to spray water and one to suck it up.\u00a0 This is the best technology they\u2019ve got, apparently.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    When she finished up, she:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Complimented me on how well I was keeping my teeth free of plaque<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Cautioned me that I was brushing too hard.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Which is really unfair.\u00a0 I also apparently need to get an electric toothbrush.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The dentist then came in and \u201cwelcomed me in\u201d.   As though I was a new patient.  I\u2019m new-ish, but this was my third time being there and I\u2019d seen him the last time I was there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      He asked me a bunch of intro questions – and didn\u2019t write down any of my answers. And he told me that based on the wear on my teeth and the shininess of my old fillings that I likely grind my teeth and it\u2019s good that I have a mouth guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Which I got from that practice.    It was a little surreal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Oh and he asked me when was the last time I had been to the dentist.\u00a0 Which I answered \u201csix months\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Either make the effort to get to know me – and write something down – or just skip it, okay? Sigh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Everything was ultimately fine and I guess that\u2019s the best result I could have.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I left the appointment with clean teeth – but feeling salty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I don\u2019t know of anyone that likes going to the dentist, but I don\u2019t usually mind it too much.\u00a0 I had stopped going for a while and started again when I realized I needed to do something about the headaches I was getting every morning from grinding my teeth. And I found a dentist that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2770,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769\/revisions\/2770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}