Went in for my semi-annual teeth cleaning and checkup this morning. I still have some of my own teeth on the bottom, thus the appointment. Everything checked out okay, which I was glad to hear.
It's funny, I take better care of the teeth I have left than I ever did when I had all of my original teeth. My very first dental appointment wasn't until I turned 13. Back then, people didn't think baby teeth were important so a lot of people never saw a dentist until after they had all of their adult teeth. That was the way for my siblings and I, but it was also because we were being raised by my mom with little or no help from my dad.
Even after we started seeing a dentist, I still didn't take the care of my teeth seriously. Boy, do I wish I had.
I did try after I got married and we had dental insurance, but it seemed that every time I scheduled major work to be done, Dave would end up getting laid off. It actually made me afraid of going to the dentist for fear that the same thing would happen. Thankfully the year before last I finally bit the bullet and decided that I had waited long enough and things were stable enough, plus my niece was getting married and I wanted to go to the wedding with a nice smile, so I went to AllCare and started the process of having the past 30 something years corrected. Wouldn't you know it, just as I was trying to set up an appointment to start the second and then the final stage of the process, they went out of business. Poof! Just like that they were gone. I couldn't help thinking that it was just my luck and what was I going to do now?
Luckily for me and the other patients who went there, there was only the one office in Des Moines, AllCare came to an agreement with another dental firm in the Des Moines area to take AllCare's patients. They were pretty quick about it too, unlike in other parts of the country. I was able within a few month's time to have the process completed and finished a month before the wedding. I was thrilled, I finally had my smile back and I'm happy to say that this one turned out just as nice as my original one, which I was told when I was a teenager, was a very nice one.
Let me tell you, it's so nice to be able to smile again and not be embarrassed. It's a great feeling. Now, if I can only get my weight down to what it was then, that would be the icing on the cake. ☺
I had a brute of a dentist as a child. He had not patience with children who were fearful. His hands were large which made things worse. The last time I went to him, I had to take something to calm me down before whatever the procedure was. My parents agreed this was too much. I didn't go for years in my teens but had nightmares about my teeth falling out.
ReplyDeleteWhen a girlfriend became a hygienist she convinced me to try the dentist she worked with. He gave me time to explain my fears and was great. And then he moved out of state.
After an interim dentist who was ok but not great as far as chairside manner, I found one that our family really likes. I finally have no fears about going for cleanings or checkups. This has been a long road.