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Dentistry thoughts
So yesterday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kestrell and I went to the dentist. It was the first time either of us had been in literally decades. We each have some cavities and wisdom teeth that 'need' dealing with, so we'll going back for a consult on Friday, and for the actual work at the end of the month. Bleagh.
I gotta say, dentistry as a basic concept is a hard sell for me. In order to prevent some unknown amount of future mouth pain, I voluntarily sign up for a system where, every six months they (at minimum) torture my entire mouth so that it hurts for the next 24 hours. Plus maybe more advanced torture to put in fillings and such. I'm pretty sure that I don't generally have that much mouth pain in a year *without* dentistry. Kes points out, correctly, that there is a marginal benefit in being able to *schedule* trauma, as opposed to having it be on an emergency basis. But it's pretty darn marginal. I doubt I'd do it if I was paying for it directly, rather than through insurance.
kestrell and I went to the dentist. It was the first time either of us had been in literally decades. We each have some cavities and wisdom teeth that 'need' dealing with, so we'll going back for a consult on Friday, and for the actual work at the end of the month. Bleagh.I gotta say, dentistry as a basic concept is a hard sell for me. In order to prevent some unknown amount of future mouth pain, I voluntarily sign up for a system where, every six months they (at minimum) torture my entire mouth so that it hurts for the next 24 hours. Plus maybe more advanced torture to put in fillings and such. I'm pretty sure that I don't generally have that much mouth pain in a year *without* dentistry. Kes points out, correctly, that there is a marginal benefit in being able to *schedule* trauma, as opposed to having it be on an emergency basis. But it's pretty darn marginal. I doubt I'd do it if I was paying for it directly, rather than through insurance.
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Keep in mind that as you age, bad habits of your youth will more likely catch up to you. I've had all my lower teeth replaced due to a condition which is extremely rare in someone my age, but not rare at all in the 60+ demographic. The cost was about $80k before insurance, $40k after (and the insurance situation could've been a lot worse). If you can manage to avoid that with 2 cleanings a year and a bit of flossing, that would be a win.
Having said that, I agree with you that the current state of dentistry is rather appalling. The fact that it's still such a mechanical approach, with all kinds of stabbing and scraping involved, is total crap. I hope they perfect that anti-cavity bacteria (http://www.oragenics.com/product_replacement.php) soon.
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no subject
Cool! I wasn't aware that they were even working on that.