I knew my new dentist was going to be cool about halfway thru the four and a half hour session. I pointed out that he had not yet chastised me for letting certain things go so long. He said he dealt with "efficiency experts", who liked to take care of everything all at once, all the time.
Two weeks ago, I was consuming 4 Tootsie Rolls at once, and felt a back tooth give way and heard a crunching sound. But it didn't bother me, so I didn't think about it any more.
Last week, that same tooth started to hurt when I chewed on it. Then it didn't hurt when I chewed on it. Then it hurt all the time. Then it didn't. Then it did again, and in addition, hurt when I breathed thru my mouth. Then it didn't. This brings us up to Sunday night.
I knew last week that I needed a dentist, but I was in Milwaukee, and wanted to find one in NYC, so I could keep going to the same one. I got home Friday night, and went to Sac's as I often do on Friday nights, and Dominic gave me the name of his dentist, who he wouldn't shut about. I had to wait until Monday to call them.
Monday morning (yesterday) the tooth hurt a lot. So rather than take the dentist Dominic suggested, I made an appointment with the dentist that owns the practice. I could see him later that afternoon.
In four hours, I had done: treat one major cavity, 4 medium cavities, and 2 small cavities. Most of these were treated in a temporary way, since I wasn't able to figure out if or what insurance I have. I'll get them finished for real when I get that straightened out. This was 4 hours of work.
I go back again, to do the whole root canal for the really bad tooth. Then that tooth needs a cap, and another tooth that also had a root canal a few years ago also needs a cap too.
All the way thru, Doctor John explained everything very carefully, and it all made sense. He was also very careful to make sure I wasn't uncomfortable. He stopped a couple of time just so I could sit up and get a break. He also ruined my shirt, something he uses has bleach in it, and it made a spot on my shirt. Hhe paid for the shirt, which was very cool. You don't often find this kind of integrity these days.