Payback day & Herzog stuff

Today I'm getting payback for all the years I allowed to pass without seeing a dentist. You see, every year my employer went bargain shopping, and when they got a better (i.e. cheaper) deal for employee insurance, I usually had to change dentists. I hate to change dentists. Each new dentist poo-poos my claims to sensitivity and has to first hurt me before agreeing to give me pain shots prior to cleaning my teeth. When I finally get all settled into a regular maintenance program, one of the following eventually happens: My dentist refuses to accept my dental insurance any longer because they are so slow to pay, or the insurance is changed again to a dental plan my current dentist does not accept. Finally I just threw in the towel, waited so long to find a new dentist that I let about seven years go by, maybe more. For somebody like me with periodontal disease, that's a really bad idea.

Then I retired, and I let it go even longer, but now, thanks to a recommendation from a friend, here I am now with a fine, friendly, considerate, and very high-tech dentist to fix all my accumulated problems. First we attacked the gums. In all the years I've been absent, gum technology has really advanced. I had deep pockets, lots of 6's and 7's, so the dental hygienist got to work cleaning the teeth, scraping the roots, lasering to seal the bleeding pockets, and sent me home with a fierce prescription antibiotic rinse. I obeyed orders, and a month later most of my pockets were 2's and 3's and the only place still bleeding was my one worst gum area around a root canal, a really deep one where bacteria have gone deep and built condos. Go figure. That has never happened to me before, that much reduction of pockets and bleeding.

Then for today we scheduled a massive do-over: replace a leaking crown, two new crowns, two three-quarter crowns, and seven new and replacement fillings. This dentist is speedy and efficient, and pain control was excellent. I'm reeling from todays head job, sat around all day and night watching TV shows and reading Roger Ebert's blog -- fascinating blog entry (April 5) including video clips of Werner Herzog talking about a new film for which he maneuvered permission to enter and film in one of the sealed caves in France with 32,000-year-old paintings. There's also a wonderful short film about a plastic bag, directed by Ramin Bahrani, narration by Werner Herzog. The narration is so soulful and sweet, from the bag's mystified point of view, and the video is startlingly moving and beautiful. [Over there on the lower right is a link to the blog.]

My jaw still feels like a brick, so I'll get some sleep.