Tag Archives: dentist

Beware the Ides of March

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I thought I should clear the virtual cobwebs off my blog, seeing that I haven’t blogged for some time. Two afflictions descended upon me in February—a nasty flu bug and a dreadful toothache. The flu arrived first, and overstayed its welcome—ten days, to be precise. I didn’t visit the doc because Murphy’s Law dictates that the moment you visit him and shell out some moolah for medicine and consultation the bugs will decide to pack their bags and head south. So I self-medicated, and survived (just wish those nasty boogers would leave my system for good) After those ten days I thought I’d get some peace and quiet. Then my old wisdom tooth decided to inflict pain on me. Long-suffering fans of my blog will remember how I managed to get this malaise (you’ve forgotten? Look here) To cut a long story short my good friend aka the dentist has been repairing this particular tooth off and on for almost two years now.

Okay, someone’s probably asking why should I put up with all this and not pull that $#@! tooth out. Well *blush* I’m such a baby and moreover the dentist said it’d be better to try and save that poor poor tooth. However, this time around the pain was excruciating—so I barged in into his office before the appointment day because I just couldn’t take it any more. Doc discovered that the pulp chamber had become infected so after two injections and numbing my tooth he took out the pulp chamber. Blech, it was disgusting. I didn’t realize there could be so much gross stuff in there. I almost gagged when I spit it out—one bloody mess. I still experienced pain for another week (that’s right, another week) so I was popping ibuprofens like there was no tomorrow.

After that the tooth decided to settle down and I finally had a breather. So I quickly made a beeline to the dentist to have it filled up. There you have it—my explanation for the cobwebs you find here in my blog. Excuse me while I go do some spring cleaning.

*I did want to title this post The Ides of February, but there isn’t any Ides of February. So there!

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A Comedy of Errors

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The past week or two presented some challenges in my life. Here are the highlights:

First off, I noticed that for no apparent reason, the text color turned black whenever I switched to a dark theme in WordPress. It’s the same like trying to find a dark object in a dark room. I tried uploading WP’s original php files to my site, I tried deleting and installing those affected themes, I tried disabling all my plug-ins, I even had the audacity to mess with the themes’ CSS files (well just a little, I know next to nothing about CSS)—nothing worked. Did a successful automatic upgrade to WP 2.7.1, still no luck. So I racked my brains trying to recall what was it that I did in the past? Ah yes, I did do a widget for my ebook and inserted it in my blog sidebar. Could that be the cause? Only one way to find out. I took that widget out and presto! I could see the text in my dark themes again! Damn satisfying, if you know what I mean. I would also like to thank my friend in the UK, Lisa Crunkhorn, for tidying up the HTML mess in the widget. I’ve now inserted it back into my sidebar with Lisa’s edits and it works correctly without messing up the text color.

Next, I’m having my usual quiet dinner in the hotel on a Friday night. Enjoying a morsel of garlic bread and the next minute, crack! This occurred inside my mouth, and I knew what it was—one of my back molars had cracked. Ugh, this would mean another trip to the dentist. After that root canal treatment in the not-so-distant past, the last thing I wanted was this. But I knew that I couldn’t afford to ignore this mishap—it would certainly make things worse for my tooth. So off I go to see my dentist, Dr. Lim. Now this man’s a genius. He took one look inside and told me that yes, one of my back lower molars had succumbed to my hard biting. He figured that he could do some bonding work on it, give it a new filling, and would I be more careful in the future? Sure thing, doc. After a 30-minute treatment (quite painless) my tooth was restored—yay! Unfortunately I was $16 USD poorer, but the important thing was that my tooth was saved.

What happens next? I’m getting into my car to send back my boss’ computer after servicing it. I start the car, and nadda. Dead battery, dude. Fortunately, this happened at my apartment, so all I had to do was call up my mechanic and a new battery was sent in a couple of minutes. If this had happened elsewhere, it would have been more inconvenient. And oh—I am now $42 USD poorer.

And finally, the straw to break the camel’s back (yeah, a lot of stuff got broken here)—sluggish Internet, due to damaged undersea cables—again!! UGH!

Well look on the bright side. Mr. Ameer from California bought my ebook Learn to Play the Piano in 12 Lessons—thank you for that bright spark in my week, sir. I hope you enjoy reading my ebook and learning to play the piano!

Till my next post, this is Philip, signing off.

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The Gentle Dental

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Today was D-Day (Dental Day). Got out of bed; I wasn’t looking forward to the looming appointment at 11:30 AM. Went for my usual morning walk, had some breakfast, powered on my computer, checked my emails, and then went for a swim. It was like any other day, except for that dreaded appointment. Then I reasoned to myself—did I want a major toothache to erupt before I would visit the dentist? Memories of 20 years ago came back to haunt me. Furthermore, I had already visited my dentist two days ago and he said that the root canal treatment for this present tooth wouldn’t be too painful as the nerve was already dead.

Before I knew it, the morning was almost over and it was time to make the trip to see the dentist. So I was ushered in and the doc started to do his thing. It was the usual poking, drilling, etc. which dentists are known for (I must admit, the sound of those high speed drills still sends shivers down my spine). Other than an injection or two, I was surprised and relieved to find that the whole procedure was relatively painless, and it was over in 20 minutes. I was fixed up with painkillers, had some gauze in my mouth to stop the temporary bleeding, and that was it.

I’ll have to see the doc again in about two day’s time. Once he’s satisfied that the tooth has no more abscess and infection, he’ll seal it with a filling, and that will be the end of things. Oh, and I must remember to pay the man.

Go for regular dental checkups, even if you believe your teeth are fine and you aren’t experiencing any pain. Believe me, there’s nothing worse than getting a toothache—it’s a real drag, especially in the middle of the night.

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Go away, root canal

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For me procrastination is the state I’m in whenever the time comes for a dental appointment. Now that I’m a full-fledged adult and parent, I suppose the choice is mine whether to go for an appointment or not. I’ve been very good these past few years, scheduling at least one dental checkup a year.

Lately I’ve been noticing a slight numbness in one of my teeth, so I rang up the dentist for an appointment. I’ll tell you why—about 20 years ago I experienced a similar pain—and ignored it. Then one evening the pain flared up, and it got worse as night came. I tried some gel, some painkillers, gargling with salt water, nothing seemed to work. It got so bad that I never did get any sleep that night. As soon as morning approached, I quickly went to see the dentist, and was told that one of my teeth had a pretty bad abscess—root canal treatment was scheduled on the spot to save the tooth. I was lucky to have chosen a good dentist; seems that some other dentists would simply insist on extracting the infected tooth. And the pain then was terrible, although I was given two painkiller injections.

Now 20 years on, I’ve learnt my lesson. My dentist told me that I wouldn’t experience so much discomfort this time round as I did not procrastinate on seeking treatment. Gee, that’s comforting. Anyway I made an appointment to do root canal treatment in two day’s time. Wish me luck.

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