I will be 84 in about 40 days and dentists, despite being essential, are also, like medical doctors nice to have as friends but can be a source of financial and physical pain while fixing your problem so...
After going to Dr.Byers for the first time about a year ago, on recommendation of my daughter after I told her of my loss of what I thot was a good dentist at a shopping center near me after about a year with almost complete turnover at the front desk too.
She Checked with friends as hers is a bit far and they came up with Dr. Byers. It is about five miles further than the place I had given up on but it is all freeway.
There, I had a cleaning, x-rays and talked with Steve about his Piper Cub, he flies! I remember them from the little airport nearby when I was 8 or so and full of wonder at the power they had to stir up wind and then to ride the air itself!
One thing that was painful, was his tugging at my front top bridge of about six teeth which had been put in about 1974 by a dentist in No. Park, long since retired. I told him it hurt a bit. He apologized for pain but said he was afraid it would break off soon at the gum-line and recommended a new bridge. Umm sure, and I knew bridges costs more than a new car in the sixties and for some strange reason, maybe retirement?, I no longer went around getting new cars,, or bridges if they worked.
About two weeks ago, after adjusting my lifestyle around a bridge that would move a bit and could not be used to bite chunks of meat or much else, good cosmetically at the cost of extra trouble getting stuff that got stuck in that gap out, I went to my daughter for fun with family, esp. grand-kids.
When she offered me the choice of a turkey sandwich or salad for lunch, I explained that I would have to cut it into bite size portions that I could put past the incisors as my bridge was worthless in biting and so would go for the salad. She told me I had to go to a dentist as I could get infected. When I said I figured it was OK, and asked her to take a look for any sign of infection as I could not see into that area, even with a mirror, she came close, looked and sorta exploded away from me.
I don't see anything but your breath is the very worst ever she told me and brought me mouthwash to rinse. That helped the breath but she was almost in tears in asking me to go to the dentist.
So...that being Sunday, I managed to fritter Monday away trying to find the dentist who had for-seen problems with that bridge. Finally, using Google, espec. maps, I found him & gave a call on Tuesday about 10.
I said I would appreciate a call telling me whether any solution I proposed would work as I could not afford a bridge. My solutions included: braces; tightening the wire, if any, on the old bridge, adhesive between the loose bridge, like for those you take out each day, and the front gums or a prosthetic bridge. The answer I got from their office:
Doctor Byers says get in here so he could see the bridge and what was involved. So...got an appt. for 2:30 that same day!
Down 15 to El Cajon Blvd. A jag east for about a block to Marlborough and a jig south to his office got me there about an hr. early. They took me back for x-rays in about fifteen min. treating me as an emergency.
So, I reminded Dr. Byers that he had said it might break loose and loose it was. I told him I was worried about a full bridge vs my ability to pay. He looked at my bridge &other teeth & said he Might be able to come up with a solution that would last, maybe, a year or more. He has a lab there in his building and after having molds made of upper and lower teeth, he came back and said he thought he could do it but it would take time and might be painful but preferred to work without anesthetic if I could take it.
I had him go ahead and was laying there looking at the translucent panels with light highlighting blue background of the panels. There were pictures of tropical fish or butterflies. Concentrating on them, my mind was diverted from what was going on in my mouth.
It took a long time to get the bridge reconnected, with no gap between the gum and it. Then it was grind, check bite, use diamond grinder, check etc & there was pain with that work as pressure pushed that tooth against bleeding gums. Luckily, I was able to control my reaction to all the relatively low pain in my mouth until my bite was at perfect, even though each bite had a little pain. But, at that point my right calf bunched up in a charley horse....You get them lying in bed after, maybe before, you are 80. The pan holding all the tools went flying as I rose up &bent toward the pain in my calf &got my foot to the floor. Pressure on the calf by arching the foot and pressing the pads below the toes HARD against floor seems to work to end charley horses at night.
You might think Dr. Byers & his aide would be angry with their tools all on the floor, Nope. Worried for me.
Now, 10 days later, I can bite NO Pain OR GAP! Call a great Dentist read more