Attention Mississippi and Alabama

[Essjay]

That sounds like you had trigeminal neuralgia which is pain in the trigeminal nerve. That has three branches - hence the tri- in the name - and this time for me it's the branch running from my scalp down to my jaw. I've been told that if there's pain in the scalp when brushing hair, that's a certain sign of it. The worst variant is when it affects the part of the nerve running into my ear, which is stabbing pains down inside my ear. I am so thankful that the pain goes away when I lie down so at least I can sleep.


The PPE was more extensive during covid- full plastic face masks instead of the usual ones just covering the mouth and nose, for example, and all the tool handles having to be encased during use and replaced between patients rather than just disinfected. The prices increased slightly as a result but went up more soon after as the practice was taken over by another. Same practitioners, just new owners.

 

[MattW]

I’ve just come back from the dental hospital in the city. Had bottom left wisdom tooth removed. Waiting for the pain next as anaesthetic wears off in a couple hours

 

[GaryE]

Man, wisdom goes fast nowadays.

In Canada, dentists haven't been part of our system, so they're out there charging. We recently have a new program to offset costs for people, but I've yet to explore it.
When I was 17, I had a dentist who said my teeth were horrible and did 17 fillings, a major expense for my parents back then. A few weeks later the dentist showed up in the river, killed by gamblers he owed money to. I later learned I'd had no cavities, and all that drilling had been because he needed cash. There's for profit medicine for ya.

 

[Essjay]

I had 3 wisdom teeth removed in my 20s. The first (also lower left) was free as I had a 7 month old, and in the 1980s (maybe still now) pregnant women and women with a baby under 12 months got free dental treatment. The upper two were removed when he was 14 months old so I had to pay for those, NHS prices. All mine were removed by my dentist, though my sister had hers removed in a dental hospital. The upper two were fast - they were both out before I realised he'd started. But the lower one was trickier as the X-ray didn't show that part of the tooth was still caught under the bone, probably why I wasn't sent to the hospital.

 

[gwand]

I had four impacted wisdom teeth removed in hospital when I was 21. Two teeth were fused to the jaw bone. The painful recovery was almost as bad as the pain of my open heart surgery. But I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to pain.

 

[Essjay]

People turn a funny shade when I mention that I had plastic surgery on my face under a local anaesthetic. Details hidden to protect the squeamish .......

Spoiler

Most people who get basal cell carcinoma have just a small piece of skin removed and the edges stitched together, but I had to get it on the side of my nostril over the cartilage bit so they couldn't do that. I needed a flap of skin from my cheek repositioning down the side of my nose to fill the gap where the skin was removed, hence the plastic surgery.