Saw my new dentist earlier today. She and her staff are very nice, but unfortunately, I have more problems than I expected. I thought I might need a filling or two. Not five fillings plus a tooth pulled! Also may need to eventually see a doctor about my TMJ and get another custom mouthguard made.

Anyway, I expected the same routine as in California. I thought I’d go in, do the 30-second mouthwash, then be cleaned and told everything was okay if I didn’t have a cavity or two. This was much different, though. Most of the time was spent taking all kinds of different X-rays, some of which were uncomfortable. Today only cost $40 because I didn’t have the cleaning done since it took so long. That will be done on the 29th for $20. The things I need in the immediate term are going to cost over a grand.

I was first taken in by Crystal and she was the one that handled the x-rays since she’s the assistant. I was surprised to learn they don’t have the water laser for doing fillings as high-tech as they seem. It’s a good-sized building and fairly new.

I explained to them about my ear, the TMJ, and my bite being off. The doctor felt around my jaws and it was sensitive when they shouldn’t have been.

Before I met with the doctor, the hygienist came in and did the gun probe and checked for some other things as well. Her name was Ashley.

So the doctor explained things I’d heard before about how my back upper tooth above the one that was pulled by the county quack which now has some decay, has no support below it, and therefore it’s a “useless” tooth. This means it would be better off pulled than fixed. My bite is off because I don’t have as many teeth on that side. They may have to do partials at some point to keep the teeth that are left from wanting to push down and out of my jaw.

The day after the cleaning, I’m going to have the cavities on my right side filled. She’s going to give me Halcion for that as well as whenever I schedule to have the other side filled along with the extraction. Well, if Halcion can work as great as it did for a root canal, I’m sure it will be just fine for these procedures.

Mike is the accountant and was pretty nice as well. We’re going to be on a payment plan and pay for it over the next year. It just sucks because even though it’s doable, it takes away from other expenses like getting the lanai redone. We’ll get it done, though. I guess it will just take longer.

After the dentist, we stopped at McDonald’s. I had chicken nuggets and they were good along with the fries.