not dodgy tooth

Yup, dental checkup is over, dental needs (barring any emergencies, God forbid) are done for the next six months.

The tooth I was worried about is apparently sound; it just feels a bit odd to me because it has a filling in it. I think also I got paranoid because it's the twin of the tooth  on the other side the cracked over the July 4th holiday. The crown I got wondering about "could this have a hairline crack in the biting face?" apparently was molded that way, and it's the surface, not a crack.

Yeah, I tend to become hyperaware of my teeth before checkups.

The hygienist did put my mind to rest about another thing I'd noticed that freaked me out earlier in the week - that it felt a little like my teeth were "loose." I chalked it up to my not feeling well and my perceptions being messed up, but she said that when a person's sinuses are inflamed, it can really affect the roots of the top teeth, and apparently even make them feel loose. (They don't, now).

It was a longer appointment because it had been five years since I had extensive x-rays, and they wanted to do them. The first part - the whole-head one - was not bad, you just stand on a platform and bite down on a thing and a big crescent-shaped device rotates about your head. But the "bitewing" type ones were kind of a misery, because the roof of my mouth is still a little inflamed. (And I have a small jaw. And my gag reflex is way too strong)

(And this is why I pay in for the optional dental insurance: every bit of that was covered as "prophylactic care." Even if I don't need any work, it's very nearly break-even in a typical year - and this year, with all the x-rays, it will be more than break-even)

My dentist also said that I was about the fifteenth person he'd seen in the past month who had or who had had the respiratory thing like I had. He said, "It's almost like pneumonia." Well, maybe not quite THAT bad, but yeah, the cough was pretty miserable. (He asked me what antibiotic I was on. I kind of blinked and said, "I figured it was viral so I didn't bother going to the doctor." He kind of chuckled - he knows I'm a biologist - and said I was probably right.)

At one point I had to really fight the temptation to say "So, doc, how old am I?" as he was lifting my lips up and examining my teeth more closely. Heh. The Ponyville dentist doesn't have to ask the birth-years of his patients....

But all the teeth are fundamentally sound (well, I have one that got damaged, either way back when I broke my nose sledding, or when I fell after fainting from the abdominal pain during a terrible bout of food poisoning about 20 years ago, but he said, "The canal is calcified and it's asymptomatic so we'll just watch it over the coming years."  I don't think I want to know what a calcified canal is because then I'll worry about it. He seemed completely unconcerned and I consider him a good dentist, so I think doing nothing unless a problem develops is probably the best course.)

But anyway. A relief to have that done, and I managed to get through the work of the appointment without coughing. (I did, a little, between x-rays)

***

I'm going to finish typing this exam, then go home, take a shower, get into comfortable clothes (=pyjamas) and just lie down and read for a while. This feels like the first time I've been able to relax comfortably since I got sick.