One tooth at a time ....

Well, here I am with braces top and bottom, and a gap in the bottom ones. Actually, it was rather unnerving just how easily that tooth came out ... And although I look like Grandma Scary Monster, it's not too bad. Bit achey, but I'm not surprised. Thing is, the clipped off wire at one end is sticking out, and into the inside outer edge of my upper lip. Clear so far? It's already started shredding my lip - ouch! So I got my tweezers last night and managed to tweak it back a bit, so it's not permanently sticking into my flesh. Clear so far? But it's still doing it a bit - enough so that it's still shredding. The rest - I'm aware of it all, naturally, but it's not trying to make way for multiple face piercings, unlike the SHARP END of the WIRE, which is. Clear so far?

So, I rang the surgery this morning and explained it WASN'T the braces, but the WIRE END which needed slightly bending back. She said - dental wax. So I explained again - she went off and asked a nurse, who said it'll settle in a fortnight and use wax. I said, it's the SHARP WIRE END, NOT the braces.. and I wanted to come in to get the wire end just slightly bent back. They kept on wittering about wax and a fortnight. And I kept on wittering about SHARP END and lacerations and getting it slightly bent back .. In the end - come on, people, who's paying here? - they asked the dentist (I heard his voice in the background), and I'm going in just before 3 this afternoon.

WHY don't people ever believe you might just be able to know what might be going on? It was as if they had one script fits all, and weren't listening to my explanations. Did you understand what I was saying?

I've already had a bit of a recent problem here, when I tried to pay on the previous visit, was unable to, told it would be ok to pay next time, and then got phoned up demanding payment before I could attend for my next (yesterday's) appointment - as if I'd been trying to avoid paying... And me with my credit card waving in my hand! I said I wasn't coming in just to pay, feeling just a bit miffed at the haranguing tone of voice, at which she said she could take the credit card over the phone. Why the 'treat me like a bad payer' tone? The dentist did apologise for the mistake .. but then I had to tell him the new front tooth was much grayer (greyer?) than my existing (white) tooth ... and that I wasn't happy with the colour ... I know it's difficult to match, and I wouldn't be able to do it, but the temporary one was, if not a better tooth, but a very much better colour match ... Daisy said I couldn't expect a 61 year old tooth to be easy to match - cos she could see the new one is grey/gray! Kate and Tim could also see it was different. The dentist has said he'd veneer my existing front tooth (the real one) to match, but I certainly don't want TWO grey/gray front teeth ...!!!! So, that's going to be changed again when the orthodontics are done (a year! Yikes!)

I wouldn't call myself a complaining woman, but ... and I can't go somewhere else, cos I've paid for the front tooth and need to wait till it's changed. And I'll get a good end result! GRIN!!!

Oh, and there was a song playing in the surgery when I still had the mad snarling beast look plastic retainer in place - the refrain was: 'Shut your mouth! Shut your mouth!' I couldn't stop laughing, which came out insanely, and the dentist, his back to me at the time, swung round asking if something was wrong ...!!!