Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Stay Tuned...

Yes, I've been a bit obsessed with the braces thing lately. I keep feeling my teeth and wondering if I'm incredibly self-absorbed and vain, or if this is a good, self-rewarding and beneficial thing to do that I've been thinking about for a long time. The big testimony is that every single adult I've spoken with who has had braces says DO IT! It's amazing! You'll be so glad you did!

No one more than the woman who started ArchWired. Yes, I've read her entire journey blog. And I hope hope hope I don't have to get 4 teeth pulled and wear braces for three years!

But I did decide to go with DDS1, who(m?) I liked better than DDS2. My next appointment, where they'll make casts of my teeth, is January 8. So, stay tuned.

Couldn't help myself

Isn't this the GREATEST?!?!?!?!

Rest In Peace, Bozo

My Most Expensive Fish Ever, Bozo the clown plecostomus ($11), has apparently gone to the fishtank in the sky. He was so cool! I wonder if living with all the ammonia waste-spewing goldfish finally did him in. Or maybe it was that I never did get him any Spirulina tablets. Those of you in town may remember my 6-month-long Saint Patrick's Day fishtank, the result of an incessant algae bloom that I could not get to go away. I ended up performing a complete tank change - even washed the inside of the tank with Simple Green (and then rinsed it about one hundred times). And the fish seemed to love it! They were psyched! This was maybe a month ago? Right before in-laws came to visit? So I know it can't be that to inspire Bozo to bite it. The other fish (Fishie, Nice Fishy, and Bruiser) are hanging out on the opposite side of the tank. They're not even eating him. Tells me they must have liked Bozo - they ate the Otto fish that I used to get.
This all reminds me of the first time I fish-sat for Brother and his girlfriend at the time. They had a "fancy" goldfish (=looked like a golf ball with fins) that was black. I think his name was Max. They really liked this fish. Anyhow, I had absolutely no idea how much to feed Max, so I think I covered the surface of the 10-gallon tank with flake food. Every day. Max died either right when they got home or right before. I hope Brother knew that about my fish-killing tendencies. I'd hate for this to be a nasty surprise.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Hard Core Metal

I'm embarking on a new adventure - braces! For the tooths, not the legs. I had a consultation this morning with an orthodontist that I really liked (actually, I had two consultations, one with a DDS that I liked, one with a DDS that I did not like). The cost is do-able, insurance will cover $2K of it (wow), and I'm looking at an 18 month committment. Sounds reasonable to me! The only glitch I see right now is that DDS1 said there was no need to pull teeth; DDS2 said we'd need to pull up to 4 teeth. Hello, how many teeth do I have in my mouth total???? 32???? Pull out 12.5% of my teeth?!?!?! But aside from the obvious discomfort of having bones pulled out of ones head, my main concern is just the discrepancy in diagnoses. Was DDS1 telling me what he thought I wanted to hear, and in fact my teeth will go crooked again later because we didn't pull teeth? Is DDS2 eager for blood and gore? Would DDS2's job be easier if we pulled teeth? I just want good care - ok, I want great care. I want a beautiful office with friendly staff and a doctor I like who has good bedside manner. I want to understand what is going on and I don't want false hopes.
So I emailed the technician at DDS1 and reported the findings of DDS2. I asked that DDS1 revisit my file with this in mind and let me know if he sees anything he didn't catch the first time. And I tried to frame it in the context that I need to calculate how much money to put in my flex spending account for 2008 - obviously, pulling teeth isn't going to be free.
I have to submit my final allocations Monday, so hopefully I'll get a reply soon. Figure I'll call in 2 days if I don't get a message back. Here's hoping that DDS1 is just so much more progressive with orthodontia than DDS2 and can achieve long-lasting results without pulling teeth!