Pulla-Pulla-Pulla.

[bogey21]

This week's experience makes me wonder why I turned down the army dentist who wanted to pull all 4 of my wisdom teeth -- free -- back in 1967. Saying no seemed like a good idea at the time.

ALAN - Don't got there. I had my 4 wisdom teeth taken out by an Army dentist while I was in Korea in 1954. I think by the time he had them out there were between 10 and 12 pieces and I was laid up about a Week. Pure agony! And this from a guy who doesn't get laid up easily. I maybe missed 5 days of work in 50 years.

GEORGE

 

[bogey21]

ALAN - You will end up loving your implant. Yes, they are expensive and yes, they seem to take forever to get finished because the post has to set before the crown is affixed. I have 5 in my mouth dating back almost 10 years when implants were in their infancy. Once you are finished you will not be able to tell the difference between your implant and your regular teeth. I have had one problem with my 5 over the 10 year period. One crown popped off. I managed to not swallow it; took it to my dentist; he cleaned it; cemented it back on; and it has been good as new. Took all of 15 minutes.

GEORGE

 

[bogey21]

Check your insurance carefully before you go the implant route. Mine covered both the post and the crown but had a $1,500 maximum. I managed to get everything paid by insurance by having the extraction and post late in the year and the crown built and affixed early the next year. And I did this five times over a ten year span.

GEORGE

 

[AwayWeGo]

Pay Big Bux For Tooth Implants, Not For Timeshares.

Check your insurance carefully before you go the implant route.

I got the implant before I got dental coverage & I got the gold crown installed on top of the implant after I got dental coverage. However, the plan doesn't cover implant-crowns. So I paid the bills myself. I spent approximately as much money on the implant & crown as I spent on 4 resale timeshares. (Well, three-&-a-half timeshares if you count my EEY timeshare as just 1/2 a timeshare.)

I expect that my next 2 installments of pulla-pulla-pulla will be covered. Under the dental plan, I paid nothing out of pocket for last week's examination & cleaning.

BTW, when I mentioned something about the progress of my titanium implant to a horn section colleague who's considering getting 1, the lady next to her remarked, "My sister said she just got implants, but I don't think they were for her teeth."

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Taking It Easy After Pulla-Pulla-Pulla.

I am also wondering about playing an brass instrument that requires blowing and pressure within the mouth. I remember being told not to use a straw for 3 days after having teeth pulled--and that would be much less pressure.

I learned the hard way about that. Next time, I'm going to schedule pulla-pulla-pulla right after a concert, not right before.

Thanks for the heads-up.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Signed Up For [More] Pulla-Pulla.

Yank date is April 24 -- smack in between the April 18 Spotlight On The Arts opener & the May 4 Last Night Of Spotlight concert.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

All Done With Pulla-Pulla-Pulla. (Here's Hoping Anyhow.)

Band rehearsal was Wednesday night. Extraction of 2 remaining wisdom teeth was Thursday noon. Next rehearsal coming up is next week on Wednesday, when I just might play hooky from band practice, depending. We'll see.

Oral surgeon was new to me. I went on referral from my regular dentist -- the 1 who sent me to the perio-implant specialist last year & who installed a solid gold crown on top of the solid titanium implant installed by the perio-implant specialist.

The oral surgeon is not only a DMD but also an MD, which makes sense in that it's not just an oral surgery practice but also a maxilo-facial surgery practice that does all sorts of marvelous corrective & restorative medical-dental things to that area of the anatomy.

I showed up 5 minutes late for my 11:30 appointment, whipped out my Medicare & dental insurance cards, filled in loads of paperwork, & got halfway through a semi-old magazine before it was my turn. The assistant escorted me to a tricky panoramic X-ray machine, draped my torso in lead, pushed the button, then after some brief zappa-zappa took me to the pulla-pulla chamber & had me plop into the chair. Pretty soon the doctor came in, introduced himself, took a look at the X-ray, had a look at his targets, shot me up with industrial strength novocaine, & left the room while major serious numbness set in.

Once that happened, the doctor returned & set to work. After approximately 11 minutes of actual pulla-pulla, the job was all done -- just 11 minutes -- both bad teeth were outta there & I was good to go.

Who'd a-thunk?

I mean, it was at least double that number of actual pulla minutes when I had the extraction done in connection with the solid titanium implant.

And I'm guessing it was approximately triple that number of actual pulla minutes when that "difficult" previous wisdom tooth extraction was done -- the 1 that led to all those perio-implant adventures of last year.

That leaves me with a sense of optimism about the prospects for a quick recovery (if I remember to take it easy & lay off horn for a while), & it also leaves me with a feeling of admiration for the talent & skill of the oral surgeon.

Tomorrow we're away to our dinky 35-foot non-traveling travel trailer at Rehoboth Beach DE for a long weekend of combined R&R + convalescent leave. (Might as well milk it for all it's worth, eh?) Recovery regimen consists of soft foods, a week of antibiotics, & pain medicines as needed. So far, with the novocaine completely worn off, OTC generic ibuprofen seems to be doing the job.

Here's hoping this is the final episode in the pulla-pulla saga for a long time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Implanta-Planta Refunda-Funda.

It's like playing Monopoly & landing on a Chance or Community Chest space & getting a card that says, Dental Insurance Policy Covers Implant Crown After All -- Collect $422

Of course, the implant crown cost lots more than $422. But every little bit helps.

Who'd a-thunk ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Recycling Dental Gold.

The dentist who on 1979 installed an outstanding solid gold crown on 1 of my back teeth said at the time, "There. That should last you a good 25 years."

Well, it's been longer than 25 years & sure enough, that outstanding solid gold crown plum wore out -- decay was showing at the upper edge where my gumline has started receding & there's an actual hole through the solid gold where the cement gluing the crown onto the tooth stub was showing through.

Fortunately, my current dentist was able to cut off the old crown & prepare what's left of the tooth underneath for a new crown. In fact, the original crown wore through because the dentist who installed it left so much of the original tooth in place that the gold was too thin at that point. Hard to blame him -- grind off too much of the natural tooth & it starts getting close to the nerve. Grind off too little & the gold is too thin at the chewing surface. So it goes.

In any case, all the decay has been removed & the tooth stub prepared for an all-new solid gold crown, which is being manufactured for me over at the dental lab even as I type. Of course, what's left of the natural tooth has been ground down even closer than before to the nerve, & the dentist says I face a 50-50 chance of needing root canal on that tooth. He says I'll know without doubt over the next 2 weeks, starting with sensitivity to heat & cold.

Meanwhile, the dentist handed me a little packet containing the 2 cut-off fragments of the old crown, which he says I can sell to some establishment that commercially recycles scrap gold from jewelry & old dental work. The 2 fragments don't amount to much, so I'd be surprised if it's worth much.

We've seen recent TV commercials from 2 or 3 different companies advertising that they'll pay cash for old gold, including old dental gold, that people send in via postage-paid envelopes that the companies send out on request.

Any TUG folks with experience recycling gold that way ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Passepartout]

Well, Alan, I know it's done. Now this may gross out some readers. It does me, but here goes. About 20 years ago my mother's husband, not my dad, passed away. He had no heirs, and his desire was to be cremated and inurned with his WWII buddies, where he'd spent what he felt were his best years. He arranged with the family dentist to drop by the funeral parlor and remove the gold from his mouth after he didn't need it any more. This was done and in due time Mom got a check from the dentist.

Jim Ricks