Ok- so today was the big day!!!! Woo hoo! My appointment was at 9 am this morning! It was scheduled to be 1-1.5 hours- anyone want to guess how long I was actually there????? Three. Yes, 3 hours. :) Why? You all know the answer... I can't do things the easy way.
The model
So I got in there and they had my brand new teeth sitting on the model and I have to say they looked pretty darn good. Not freakishly wide or anything! And I start to think this might actually happen. The porcelain abutment is awesome! Definitely the right way to go and worth waiting for.
The action
So we have to start by taking the temporary thing off. Jenny asks where he would like her to cut it and he says we may not have to. I agree and tell them that im pretty sure if they give it one good yank, it will come right off. Sure enough! That worked!
So the next thing to do is get the healing cap off the implant area. We had a bit of a problem finding the right screwdriver to do the job since the implants they use are different than this brand. But nevertheless, mission accomplished. :)
So the custom abutment goes in. Can I just say that 'torque' it not a term that you like to hear in reference to your teeth. No worries though- it didn't hurt- just felt the pressure. Much better than the last time 'torque' was used with that tooth- during the removal of the improperly placed implant. The good news is that by feeling the pressure, that means it's attached to something in there! :)
We then decide that we should go ahead and put the verneer on the canine and get that done and then we can work with the freaky tooth. YAY.
Canine on, here we come! So... the abutment is in, the canine verneer on... and we are ready to go. Sort of.
the Freaky tooth
So it looked really good on the model. And then we tried to put it in the space that was provided and it didn't work so swell. :) They made it right for the model, but there was too much material on one side and not enough on the other side. So we start the trimming process. Dr. Mazur takes a bit off of the side and then tries it to see if it fits. And repeats that process multiple times until the side that has too much doesn't anymore. But what do we do about the side that doesn't have enough?????
Shake 'n Bake
Turns out that they had purchased an oven to help cure porcelain- so Dr. Mazur takes it back, adds a little porcelain on and throws it in the oven. And we wait.... and wait.... And then it's ready! So he comes back, has to do a bit more trimming because he added more than he needed which is what he wanted to do! And then its ready to go. So after some nasty smelling stuff to cure it, the implant is on. And I am done. The tooth is done. Voila!
But it's not over... I still need to get a refund from Dr. Gomes for the abutment he charged me for from the previous procedures. :) And I have to go back to Mazur on Monday to make sure everything is doing well.. there's some seriously irritated tissue around the area, so we need to check it all out when thats not irritated and check my bite when I'm not numb.
So its finally drawing to a close. I am excited for apples and corn on the cob and go lean crunch and huge sandwiches and gum.. lots of gum!!!
So its done, but not quite over. The blog lives on, for now... a few more dwindling entries and we will come to a close! I'll take some pictures when my mouth is adjusted and let you all see what we have been working on since March of 2006. :)
until then.. keep smiln :)
Monday, July 02, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
This may be the best blog entry yet!!!!!!
Ok- so some of you know that I am in the middle of computer science summer camp and are probably wondering how I could possibly have time to blog or even a story to tell during camp week! Well... never fear, the tooth does not let us down. ;-) So i had to take time to blog this one!
So, so much for the 2 weeks and we were done with everything as I mentioned in the last blog. I had an appointment scheduled a couple weeks after that last appointment to get the final restoration done. Welll... that didn't happen. :) The lab decided it was going to take an additional 3 weeks to get everything done. YIKES! Well, that would put us right in the middle of camp week- yeah right. So i have an appointment scheduled for July 2nd.
Well, last week, the temporary started feeling a bit loose. It wasn't off all the way or anything, just loose... so I knew if I didn't go in to the dentist and have them glue it back on, it would come off during camp week for sure. (My life is a comedy of errors. :) ) So I ran in last week, told Mazur we should put a little dab of superglue on that, shove it back into place, and I'd be on my merry little way! After a bit of a discussion of if he could do that or not, he decided he could. I told him it only had to last for about a week anyway.
And last for exactly one week it did. :)
So yesterday at camp, I had to send some emails off to our conference coordinator. The lab the students were working in was full, so I decided to step into the lab next door to use the computer. Well, we have had some heavy allergens in the air here lately, and I have been quite sneezy. So while in the lab, I had a sneezing fit. And on the last "aaachhhooo" I felt something fly out of my mouth. Sure enough, the force of the sneeze dislodged my temporary and it went flying! Panic spread across my face I am sure! I knew I couldn't roll my chair to look for it for fear of rolling right over it. So I am sure I looked like a ninja making very calculated moves to search for the missing tooth! I can only imagine the slo-mo instant reply of the whole event! ;-) The camera focuses on the tooth as a projectile and then comes back to record the shock and awe on my face! Awesome I'm sure! So anyway, I find it on the floor, shove it back in- sort of, and then run to the lab next door to tell the instructor I need to go to the dentist and I'll be back.
The good news was that this time they did just throw a little bondo back on there, shove it on and I was back to camp! Woo hoo!
But how crazy is that???? ;-)
I am just hoping it will stay til we are done with camp Saturday afternoon- I can deal with it over the weekend if it comes out. Wish me luck!
It should be a quick hour and a half on Monday and hopefully we will draw this blog to a close.. but you just never know. :)
Stay tuned.....
So, so much for the 2 weeks and we were done with everything as I mentioned in the last blog. I had an appointment scheduled a couple weeks after that last appointment to get the final restoration done. Welll... that didn't happen. :) The lab decided it was going to take an additional 3 weeks to get everything done. YIKES! Well, that would put us right in the middle of camp week- yeah right. So i have an appointment scheduled for July 2nd.
Well, last week, the temporary started feeling a bit loose. It wasn't off all the way or anything, just loose... so I knew if I didn't go in to the dentist and have them glue it back on, it would come off during camp week for sure. (My life is a comedy of errors. :) ) So I ran in last week, told Mazur we should put a little dab of superglue on that, shove it back into place, and I'd be on my merry little way! After a bit of a discussion of if he could do that or not, he decided he could. I told him it only had to last for about a week anyway.
And last for exactly one week it did. :)
So yesterday at camp, I had to send some emails off to our conference coordinator. The lab the students were working in was full, so I decided to step into the lab next door to use the computer. Well, we have had some heavy allergens in the air here lately, and I have been quite sneezy. So while in the lab, I had a sneezing fit. And on the last "aaachhhooo" I felt something fly out of my mouth. Sure enough, the force of the sneeze dislodged my temporary and it went flying! Panic spread across my face I am sure! I knew I couldn't roll my chair to look for it for fear of rolling right over it. So I am sure I looked like a ninja making very calculated moves to search for the missing tooth! I can only imagine the slo-mo instant reply of the whole event! ;-) The camera focuses on the tooth as a projectile and then comes back to record the shock and awe on my face! Awesome I'm sure! So anyway, I find it on the floor, shove it back in- sort of, and then run to the lab next door to tell the instructor I need to go to the dentist and I'll be back.
The good news was that this time they did just throw a little bondo back on there, shove it on and I was back to camp! Woo hoo!
But how crazy is that???? ;-)
I am just hoping it will stay til we are done with camp Saturday afternoon- I can deal with it over the weekend if it comes out. Wish me luck!
It should be a quick hour and a half on Monday and hopefully we will draw this blog to a close.. but you just never know. :)
Stay tuned.....
Monday, May 21, 2007
No Foolin'- No Flipper!!
Ok- Yes, I know... it's been a month since the last blog and you are probably wondering what is going on! Well, I had to reschedule the cleaning because of a work committment, so I didn't get in the first part of May afterall for that appointment. Instead we rescheduled to do everything today. What is everything you ask? Well, the way it was scheduled (yes a bit of foreshadowing in there for what is yet to come) they would do impresssions of the implant so they could send it off to the lab and get the final restoration made and then I would have my regular 6 month check up and cleaning. So here's what really happened....
My appt was at 8 am and I should have been done by 10 am with everything. They had me scheduled for an hour for each stage. It will not surprise any of you to find out that I was actually there until 11 am. :-) Here's why...
The Impressions- Mine and My Teeth
So I thought I was simply going in for a round of impressions where they would take the healing cap off the implant, stick something in the implant post to create the model for the abutment for the impressions and then be on my merry little way. Apparently I was under the wrong impression... Turns out today we were doing prep work for the veneer and all the other stuff I mentioned above. Well.... of course, the healing cap had some tissue that had grown over it, so we had to get out the laser again and trim away tissue. UGGGH. Two things that were not meant to come in contact are burning and flesh. I'll just leave it at that. Then, to prep the adjacent tooth for the veneer, we had to shave it down a little so the veneer will fit smoothly over it. To be honest, I wasn't quite ready for that since I was thinking we were just doing impressions today. BUT, I got over it pretty quickly and I'll tell you why in the next section. So anyway, Mazur went to try to use the parts that Gomes told Jenny to order for my specific implant, and guess what.... they didn't work. *Sigh* Yet again, no one should be surprised by that. :-) So we take a bit of a break to get the implant rep on the phone to make sure everything is right (or wrong). So... never fear- turns out that even though Gomes told them the wrong parts, Mazur had a spare set of the right stuff, so we were good to go! Woo hoo!
Getting Over It
So I am not quite sure when I finally realized that based on the agenda for my appointment, I would be leaving the office today without the flipper. That's right... no more flipper! But it's not a hole either! To get the adjacent tooth to look right once some of it was shaved off, we created a temporary crown to go over it and in addition to the crown, it has a fake tooth attached to it in the hole!!!! And it looks pretty presentable. (Does the word cantilever mean anything to anyone? ) They had created a mold of those teeth from the wax up as part of the prep for today, so they were able to fill the mold with resin and pop a temporary setting right on in there. Woo hoo!!!!! Hooray!!!
The Finale
So it turns out that even though I was technically an hour late for my cleaning appointment today, they were able to fit in after all this was done because of a lot of cancellations! YAY!
It will take the lab 2-3 weeks to get the final restoration done- they will have to create the abutment as well as create the crown to go over the abutment and then also to create the veneer to go over the crown and the tooth next to it. :-) But in a few weeks we should be ready to rock and roll!!! It's quite an odd feeling today without the flipper- not having a wad of acrylic in the roof of my mouth makes me almost panic at times thinking the flipper (and the tooth) is not in there. It's still a bit tender from the trimming and the shot to numb it too... so I won't be able to fully assess how it looks and feels for another day or 2. So as we are just a couple weeks away from the year anniversary of the first placement of the implant, I am hoping this will be wrapped up soon and I'll be back on my way to eating apples and corn on the cob and all kinds of good stuff like that!
So that's all there is for now.... hopefully I'll be able to keep you posted with the final posting of the freaky tooth blog before we all know it!
For now... keep smilin... i'll try to remember to take some pictures and post them soon too so you can all see how it temporary setting looks!
My appt was at 8 am and I should have been done by 10 am with everything. They had me scheduled for an hour for each stage. It will not surprise any of you to find out that I was actually there until 11 am. :-) Here's why...
The Impressions- Mine and My Teeth
So I thought I was simply going in for a round of impressions where they would take the healing cap off the implant, stick something in the implant post to create the model for the abutment for the impressions and then be on my merry little way. Apparently I was under the wrong impression... Turns out today we were doing prep work for the veneer and all the other stuff I mentioned above. Well.... of course, the healing cap had some tissue that had grown over it, so we had to get out the laser again and trim away tissue. UGGGH. Two things that were not meant to come in contact are burning and flesh. I'll just leave it at that. Then, to prep the adjacent tooth for the veneer, we had to shave it down a little so the veneer will fit smoothly over it. To be honest, I wasn't quite ready for that since I was thinking we were just doing impressions today. BUT, I got over it pretty quickly and I'll tell you why in the next section. So anyway, Mazur went to try to use the parts that Gomes told Jenny to order for my specific implant, and guess what.... they didn't work. *Sigh* Yet again, no one should be surprised by that. :-) So we take a bit of a break to get the implant rep on the phone to make sure everything is right (or wrong). So... never fear- turns out that even though Gomes told them the wrong parts, Mazur had a spare set of the right stuff, so we were good to go! Woo hoo!
Getting Over It
So I am not quite sure when I finally realized that based on the agenda for my appointment, I would be leaving the office today without the flipper. That's right... no more flipper! But it's not a hole either! To get the adjacent tooth to look right once some of it was shaved off, we created a temporary crown to go over it and in addition to the crown, it has a fake tooth attached to it in the hole!!!! And it looks pretty presentable. (Does the word cantilever mean anything to anyone? ) They had created a mold of those teeth from the wax up as part of the prep for today, so they were able to fill the mold with resin and pop a temporary setting right on in there. Woo hoo!!!!! Hooray!!!
The Finale
So it turns out that even though I was technically an hour late for my cleaning appointment today, they were able to fit in after all this was done because of a lot of cancellations! YAY!
It will take the lab 2-3 weeks to get the final restoration done- they will have to create the abutment as well as create the crown to go over the abutment and then also to create the veneer to go over the crown and the tooth next to it. :-) But in a few weeks we should be ready to rock and roll!!! It's quite an odd feeling today without the flipper- not having a wad of acrylic in the roof of my mouth makes me almost panic at times thinking the flipper (and the tooth) is not in there. It's still a bit tender from the trimming and the shot to numb it too... so I won't be able to fully assess how it looks and feels for another day or 2. So as we are just a couple weeks away from the year anniversary of the first placement of the implant, I am hoping this will be wrapped up soon and I'll be back on my way to eating apples and corn on the cob and all kinds of good stuff like that!
So that's all there is for now.... hopefully I'll be able to keep you posted with the final posting of the freaky tooth blog before we all know it!
For now... keep smilin... i'll try to remember to take some pictures and post them soon too so you can all see how it temporary setting looks!
Friday, April 20, 2007
Ready to Launch
X-Ray Vision
Ok- So Mazur sent the x-rays to Gomes and we were waiting to hear back from him. In the mean time, I received another bill from Gomes asking me to pay the additional $500 I still owed. And it turns out I wasn't going to be able to make my originally scheduled appointment on the 24th, so I decided to give them a call.
Well, this time Sharon answered the phone. I didn't remember a Sharon before. I like Sharon. I told her I was calling to ask about needing to reschedule my appt- but I wasn't sure if I needed to reschedule or just cancel since they had sent the x-rays to Gomes. Her reply was "well, I can just make your appointment go away." I was hoping she'd have the same response about my bill. :-) So we made my appt go away and she said she'd have Dr. Gomes call me if I needed to reschedule. So then she transferred me to Charlotte to deal with the billing though. Charlotte looked at my chart and said it said I would pay $200. Nope. Not the case. So she checked with Gomes and he said it was fine and they sent me a bill with a zero balance and we are good now! YAY!
Oh, Vanity
Ok- so I was back at Mazur's office on Tuesday because they called to say that bleaching trays were ready and I needed to come in so they could make sure they fit and tell me how to use them. I have never felt so vain in my entire life. ;-) But anyway, I had my last coke on Monday at lunch to say goodbye to any dark liquids for a bit. I am trying to make sure I don't get too addicted to doing this and end up with teeth like Ross's on that episode of Friends. ;-)
While I was there Dr. Mazur came in to visit me. :-) He said he talked to Gomes about the x-rasy and that Gomes wanted to see me again. He also asked Gomes about the abutment. Gomes told him he didn't think I had paid for it before so Mazur could just do it. Well.. Mazur happens to have a copy of my bill from the perio place, and sure enough the abutment is on there. :) So anyway, they got into a conversation where Mazur told him that he thought I wasn't too happy about this whole situation and what's been going on. Gomes replied that he had no indication that I wasn't happy. So Mazur says to him, 'dude, she even has a blog about this tooth. And I've only read it once, but she didn't seem too happy about any of it. ' :) So now, Dr. Gomes knows about the blog too. That should make for an interesting visit.
The Interesting Visit
So I go back and schedule my return visit to Gomes. And that visit was yesterday. So I take a half day off, drive down an hour for a 15 minute appointment. So anyway, Dr. Gomes doesn't let on that he's had this conversation with Dr. Mazur. But he pokes and prods a bit and says it looks really good. Its sturdy in there. The x-rays look good. There's bone around there- it can take a full year for bone graft to fully integrate, but it looks good. But then he tells me that he wants to make sure I know he's not God, nor does he want to be God. But he did the best he could with the space and bone he had and that my root was like two banana's stuck together. ( Might I mention all the while the song "If This Is It, Please Let Me Know" by Huey Lewis is playing in the background. I love it when life provides the soundtrack for events like that! I thought that was kind of ironic. ;-) ) I say, yes I know, we all just want this to turn out for the best and the best it can be. So then he sends me on my way... says I do still have to come back to see him when all is said and done just so he can see how it turned out. He says we might want to wait a month before we put anything on there, but its looking good. YAY! YAY! YAY! Translate- we have permission to think about finally getting this done!!!!! Woo hoo!
And I have to say that maybe in the past I have unfairly represented the new location and people. This time, everything just seemed so much brighter. I don't know if it was new lights, a much more friendly Tiana, or just a brighter outlook on my part, but the modest accommodations seemed much more tolerable this time around. So I guess maybe I shouldn't have been so judgemental before.
Ready to Launch
So basically I guess we are ready to launch. I need to get in touch with Mazur (they are unfortunately out of the office until Monday) and get some things setup with them. I am supposed to bleach for 2 weeks. I have my regular 6 month check up the beginning of May- so hopefully while I am there for that, we can get this game plan rolling and plan the rest of it out. I am getting so excited! I just want this to be done! However, this IS me we are talking about. I am cautiously optimistic because we know I can't do anything the easy way! :-) I am sure while there are just a few more steps to take, life will continue to have it's way with me and God will continue to use it as a lesson for me to rely on Him.
I'll call Mazur on Monday and see what's next. Hopefully by mid May we can have this rolling and I"ll have lots more to report!
Until then... Keep smilin :)
Mindy
Ok- So Mazur sent the x-rays to Gomes and we were waiting to hear back from him. In the mean time, I received another bill from Gomes asking me to pay the additional $500 I still owed. And it turns out I wasn't going to be able to make my originally scheduled appointment on the 24th, so I decided to give them a call.
Well, this time Sharon answered the phone. I didn't remember a Sharon before. I like Sharon. I told her I was calling to ask about needing to reschedule my appt- but I wasn't sure if I needed to reschedule or just cancel since they had sent the x-rays to Gomes. Her reply was "well, I can just make your appointment go away." I was hoping she'd have the same response about my bill. :-) So we made my appt go away and she said she'd have Dr. Gomes call me if I needed to reschedule. So then she transferred me to Charlotte to deal with the billing though. Charlotte looked at my chart and said it said I would pay $200. Nope. Not the case. So she checked with Gomes and he said it was fine and they sent me a bill with a zero balance and we are good now! YAY!
Oh, Vanity
Ok- so I was back at Mazur's office on Tuesday because they called to say that bleaching trays were ready and I needed to come in so they could make sure they fit and tell me how to use them. I have never felt so vain in my entire life. ;-) But anyway, I had my last coke on Monday at lunch to say goodbye to any dark liquids for a bit. I am trying to make sure I don't get too addicted to doing this and end up with teeth like Ross's on that episode of Friends. ;-)
While I was there Dr. Mazur came in to visit me. :-) He said he talked to Gomes about the x-rasy and that Gomes wanted to see me again. He also asked Gomes about the abutment. Gomes told him he didn't think I had paid for it before so Mazur could just do it. Well.. Mazur happens to have a copy of my bill from the perio place, and sure enough the abutment is on there. :) So anyway, they got into a conversation where Mazur told him that he thought I wasn't too happy about this whole situation and what's been going on. Gomes replied that he had no indication that I wasn't happy. So Mazur says to him, 'dude, she even has a blog about this tooth. And I've only read it once, but she didn't seem too happy about any of it. ' :) So now, Dr. Gomes knows about the blog too. That should make for an interesting visit.
The Interesting Visit
So I go back and schedule my return visit to Gomes. And that visit was yesterday. So I take a half day off, drive down an hour for a 15 minute appointment. So anyway, Dr. Gomes doesn't let on that he's had this conversation with Dr. Mazur. But he pokes and prods a bit and says it looks really good. Its sturdy in there. The x-rays look good. There's bone around there- it can take a full year for bone graft to fully integrate, but it looks good. But then he tells me that he wants to make sure I know he's not God, nor does he want to be God. But he did the best he could with the space and bone he had and that my root was like two banana's stuck together. ( Might I mention all the while the song "If This Is It, Please Let Me Know" by Huey Lewis is playing in the background. I love it when life provides the soundtrack for events like that! I thought that was kind of ironic. ;-) ) I say, yes I know, we all just want this to turn out for the best and the best it can be. So then he sends me on my way... says I do still have to come back to see him when all is said and done just so he can see how it turned out. He says we might want to wait a month before we put anything on there, but its looking good. YAY! YAY! YAY! Translate- we have permission to think about finally getting this done!!!!! Woo hoo!
And I have to say that maybe in the past I have unfairly represented the new location and people. This time, everything just seemed so much brighter. I don't know if it was new lights, a much more friendly Tiana, or just a brighter outlook on my part, but the modest accommodations seemed much more tolerable this time around. So I guess maybe I shouldn't have been so judgemental before.
Ready to Launch
So basically I guess we are ready to launch. I need to get in touch with Mazur (they are unfortunately out of the office until Monday) and get some things setup with them. I am supposed to bleach for 2 weeks. I have my regular 6 month check up the beginning of May- so hopefully while I am there for that, we can get this game plan rolling and plan the rest of it out. I am getting so excited! I just want this to be done! However, this IS me we are talking about. I am cautiously optimistic because we know I can't do anything the easy way! :-) I am sure while there are just a few more steps to take, life will continue to have it's way with me and God will continue to use it as a lesson for me to rely on Him.
I'll call Mazur on Monday and see what's next. Hopefully by mid May we can have this rolling and I"ll have lots more to report!
Until then... Keep smilin :)
Mindy
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The Blog is Back in Action, Baby!
I know, I know..it's been a while. I am sure many of you had to endure the cold days of February and March just wondering what was going on with the freaky tooth- but think of it like a TV show- had the big cliffhanger and now we will be back in action for sweeps week in April and May.
Gomester Update
Ok- so something has happened between the last post and now, but at the time I did not think it to be blog-worthy, so I spared you. Well, turns out its worth sharing now to give you some setup for the rest of the posting. So A few weeks back, I received a bill in the mail from Gomes for almost $600! Obvious mistake, right? :) So I call and alert Charlotte to the billing error. She looks in my chart and can't see anything that would indicate it would be otherwise and those are their 'standard charges.' Ok- well, I explained to her that Dr. Gomes and I decided on a much less amount ($100) since he did not have to pay for the stent and there would be charges for some consumables. She decided she would have Dr. Gomes call me. Good idea. So the Gomester calls me and says, oh, yes, that is a mistake, they sent it in to insurance to see if they would cover any of it and they didn't, so it came back and got billed to you. So, why don't you just pay me $300. Um, no, we agreed on $100. Well, Gomes says he had to do more than what the thought he would (um... I don't remember him doing anything more than what he had to do- put the implant in and give me some bone graft) so there were more costs. But I stuck my ground!!!! No, we agreed on $100. So he says well, I am not going to argue with you since you have been through so much, so just pay me what you are going to pay me. OK. Will do. So I am expecting my next office visit with him might cost $200 :-) Anyway... not a big deal... we settled and it was fine.
Pearly Whites
So it was back to Mazur today to get my impressions for the bleaching trays. The good news is that it was cheaper than the estimate. Yay for me! These were not the user friendly impressions of the past though. These were the full arch, make you gag, tears streaming down your cheeks kind of impressions. My favorite. And I had a sadistic dental assistant doing them. She first started with trays and decided they were not going to be big enough, so she went for bigger ones. That's never a good thing. So anyway... these are the big metal trays too... and when she put the bottom one in, apparently she did not center them so well. There is now a nice layer of gum tissue attached to those impressions because the metal plate scraped the whole inner area of my gums while she was putting them in. She of course thought the tears were from the gag reflex and I had to wait 3 minutes before I could explain it to her. No amount of hand gestures and head shaking were going to explain that one. Then we did the top one. WORD TO THE WISE: Don't do full arch, upper impressions during allergy season while your nose is stuffed up or during sinus problems. It's not a good combo. I did good for about 2 minutes, and then I just couldn't breathe. So here comes gagging and tears. But we made it! She kept telling me to sniff through my nose- and I would have loved to do that.... but all that did was allow snot to block my airway a bit more. :-) Ahh... the fun times at the dentist. And then we were done...or were we???????
Jen-ney
So right as I was finishing my gagging and tears, my favorite assistant Jenny came by for a visit and asked me if these girls were being mean to me. I answered "yes" without hesitation. :-) So she asked how things were going with the implant. And she always enjoys a good story from Gomes, so I told her the billing story above. Incredulous as we all were, she decided that she needed to talk to Mazur and tell him about that. So we get Mazur fired up, and he decides that I should have some x-rays while I am there and he can see how things are looking. I ask if I do indeed need to go back to Gomes or if we can be done with him. So...Mazur stops by, says he is going to go get another patient numb, and then he will be back to show me something awesome that will make me sick- really sick. (Side note: you know, with Mazur, he's hip, so you don't know if sick is a good thing or back thing. :) )
Unscheduled Appointment
So my appt for the impressions was supposed to take 15 minutes tops. Is this a good time to tell you what you all should expect- my appointment ended up being one hour long. :-) So Mazur comes back and decides to show me what he has learned at his special training sessions in Las Vegas. It really was coool... basically there is a program that takes a 3-D CAT scan of your head and allows you then to create treatment plans and model them on the computer before drilling, waiting 4 months for bone to grow, and then deciding there's a problem. We would have been able to see the lack of bone, etc and all those problems we ran into before anyone did anything if we had waited a year. So that was what Mazur thought would make me sick...that one year down the road, we now have a different/better option that would have probably worked out better. Oh well. Too late now. I hope. :-) There is a potential for me to go have one of these 3-d scans done (in indy) if we have trouble coming up with a good idea of how the implant is working out though. We still can't tell if its going to be good enough or not though. I am going with, yes, it will be good enough. :-) At this point, I must apologize to the patient who was getting numb- because I am pretty sure by the time that Mazur was done with me, that patient might have had to get re-numbed. :-) And if any of you have an appointment with him today- I am the cause for him to be more than 30 minutes behind schedule. :) But he was cool with that. :-)
Final Verdict
So the real question is.. .do I have to go back to Gomes on the 24th? Well... they are going to send the x-rays to him and see what he thinks. Mazur says that he, not Gomes should place the abutment (the post that the crown eventually has to go on) because he has to do all the restoration on it too. So hopefully Gomester will agree and we will be done with all that.
So we are just getting things rolling again... Theresa will call me once she can get ahold of Gomes (it's Wednesday and apparently it's just he and Tiana in the office again and no one answers the phone. ) And hopefully we can get this done! I am sure the next couple months will provide frequent updates to the blog! So hang in there... and I'll keep you posted!
Gomester Update
Ok- so something has happened between the last post and now, but at the time I did not think it to be blog-worthy, so I spared you. Well, turns out its worth sharing now to give you some setup for the rest of the posting. So A few weeks back, I received a bill in the mail from Gomes for almost $600! Obvious mistake, right? :) So I call and alert Charlotte to the billing error. She looks in my chart and can't see anything that would indicate it would be otherwise and those are their 'standard charges.' Ok- well, I explained to her that Dr. Gomes and I decided on a much less amount ($100) since he did not have to pay for the stent and there would be charges for some consumables. She decided she would have Dr. Gomes call me. Good idea. So the Gomester calls me and says, oh, yes, that is a mistake, they sent it in to insurance to see if they would cover any of it and they didn't, so it came back and got billed to you. So, why don't you just pay me $300. Um, no, we agreed on $100. Well, Gomes says he had to do more than what the thought he would (um... I don't remember him doing anything more than what he had to do- put the implant in and give me some bone graft) so there were more costs. But I stuck my ground!!!! No, we agreed on $100. So he says well, I am not going to argue with you since you have been through so much, so just pay me what you are going to pay me. OK. Will do. So I am expecting my next office visit with him might cost $200 :-) Anyway... not a big deal... we settled and it was fine.
Pearly Whites
So it was back to Mazur today to get my impressions for the bleaching trays. The good news is that it was cheaper than the estimate. Yay for me! These were not the user friendly impressions of the past though. These were the full arch, make you gag, tears streaming down your cheeks kind of impressions. My favorite. And I had a sadistic dental assistant doing them. She first started with trays and decided they were not going to be big enough, so she went for bigger ones. That's never a good thing. So anyway... these are the big metal trays too... and when she put the bottom one in, apparently she did not center them so well. There is now a nice layer of gum tissue attached to those impressions because the metal plate scraped the whole inner area of my gums while she was putting them in. She of course thought the tears were from the gag reflex and I had to wait 3 minutes before I could explain it to her. No amount of hand gestures and head shaking were going to explain that one. Then we did the top one. WORD TO THE WISE: Don't do full arch, upper impressions during allergy season while your nose is stuffed up or during sinus problems. It's not a good combo. I did good for about 2 minutes, and then I just couldn't breathe. So here comes gagging and tears. But we made it! She kept telling me to sniff through my nose- and I would have loved to do that.... but all that did was allow snot to block my airway a bit more. :-) Ahh... the fun times at the dentist. And then we were done...or were we???????
Jen-ney
So right as I was finishing my gagging and tears, my favorite assistant Jenny came by for a visit and asked me if these girls were being mean to me. I answered "yes" without hesitation. :-) So she asked how things were going with the implant. And she always enjoys a good story from Gomes, so I told her the billing story above. Incredulous as we all were, she decided that she needed to talk to Mazur and tell him about that. So we get Mazur fired up, and he decides that I should have some x-rays while I am there and he can see how things are looking. I ask if I do indeed need to go back to Gomes or if we can be done with him. So...Mazur stops by, says he is going to go get another patient numb, and then he will be back to show me something awesome that will make me sick- really sick. (Side note: you know, with Mazur, he's hip, so you don't know if sick is a good thing or back thing. :) )
Unscheduled Appointment
So my appt for the impressions was supposed to take 15 minutes tops. Is this a good time to tell you what you all should expect- my appointment ended up being one hour long. :-) So Mazur comes back and decides to show me what he has learned at his special training sessions in Las Vegas. It really was coool... basically there is a program that takes a 3-D CAT scan of your head and allows you then to create treatment plans and model them on the computer before drilling, waiting 4 months for bone to grow, and then deciding there's a problem. We would have been able to see the lack of bone, etc and all those problems we ran into before anyone did anything if we had waited a year. So that was what Mazur thought would make me sick...that one year down the road, we now have a different/better option that would have probably worked out better. Oh well. Too late now. I hope. :-) There is a potential for me to go have one of these 3-d scans done (in indy) if we have trouble coming up with a good idea of how the implant is working out though. We still can't tell if its going to be good enough or not though. I am going with, yes, it will be good enough. :-) At this point, I must apologize to the patient who was getting numb- because I am pretty sure by the time that Mazur was done with me, that patient might have had to get re-numbed. :-) And if any of you have an appointment with him today- I am the cause for him to be more than 30 minutes behind schedule. :) But he was cool with that. :-)
Final Verdict
So the real question is.. .do I have to go back to Gomes on the 24th? Well... they are going to send the x-rays to him and see what he thinks. Mazur says that he, not Gomes should place the abutment (the post that the crown eventually has to go on) because he has to do all the restoration on it too. So hopefully Gomester will agree and we will be done with all that.
So we are just getting things rolling again... Theresa will call me once she can get ahold of Gomes (it's Wednesday and apparently it's just he and Tiana in the office again and no one answers the phone. ) And hopefully we can get this done! I am sure the next couple months will provide frequent updates to the blog! So hang in there... and I'll keep you posted!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Million Dollar Baby
So I learned about a new weather phenomena yesterday- it's called Freezing Fog. It's really thick fog, that is so cold, it freezes on stuff too- but heavier than a frost. It was really quite interesting. And I got to drive all the way to Indianapolis in it- joy of all joys! :) That's right, I was back to the Gomester yesterday to get my stitches out.
The Modest Accomodations
When I arrived at my appointment yesterday I was a bit surprised when I walked in and there was no one around. No one- no other patients, no office staff to welcome you. I am pretty sure I have seen a horror movie or 2 that began that way- it's amazing how many different thoughts of what is going to happen can go through your head in a split second. But finally, dental assitant Tiana appears. She tells me to have a seat and they will be with me. OK. Finally she comes out and says they are ready for me. There's no one else in the whole place- did I mention my appt was at 10 am? Well anyway, turns out that the other perio in the office doesn't work on Wednesdays, so its just Gomester and Tiana. So, I am literally in the chair for 2 minutes- long enough for him to snip two strings and pull the stitches out and then its time to go! Gomes says he'd like to get a x-ray in a couple months to see how its doing. I naively ask if that means I'm done with him (thinking Mazur can take an x-ray and send it). But no. He wants me to drive down there for him to look at it and take the x-ray so we know if its good to go to hold a permanent tooth or not. OK. Fine. So I will go back at the end of April. Fine. He did mention that it is looking good- actually better than he thought it would. ( I think that's supposed to make me feel good??) Tiana schedules my appointment with her very helpful demeanor ( i think her statement was something of " you just need to pick a time and I'll see if its open" but not in a friendly way. :) )
The Real Verdict
So today I went back to Mazur so they could see how far off it was from the suggested stent placment. Mazur was actually pleasantly surprised too! Says it looks pretty good. So he went ahead and took an x-ray to see how it looked with bone around it, etc. Well... turns out we have a bit of an angle going again. No kidding. BUT- it doesn't look as bad as it was before- so that's good. We even pulled out the old x-ray to see how it compared. So Mazur thinks we will get this looking pretty good. All for a cost though. :) But I knew that before, so here's what we will do. So basically, to make this all work right and have the most natural looking tooth, here is what's to come: We will have to bleach my teeth to get them to the best looking quality to match the crown and veneer and make it look real. (And to do this, we will have to do more impressions- I should have known. :) ) Then of course, there is the crown itself. We are in the aesthetic region- so we want it to look good and not have any shadowy gray. So, there's an option of something called a P2Z. Which is Porcelain to Zirconia. Isn't that similar to diamonds? :) it just sounds expensive- but it's supposed to look really good. Then we will create the veneer to even out the space between the teeth and then we will do a bit of tissue trimming to make sure its all even and viola! All done. :) I really am going to add up the amount this tooth has cost me when we are all done. It still seems like a long haul to get this all finished- so in the end I might be feeling like the million dollar baby and wanting you all to kill me too. :)
For now, still taking it all in stride. I'll go back to Mazur the beginning of April for the bleaching impressions and we will figure out what to do from there. :) It sounds like once we get that going, we will be rolling! So wish me luck! Check back in a month for details!
until then... keep smilin :)
The Modest Accomodations
When I arrived at my appointment yesterday I was a bit surprised when I walked in and there was no one around. No one- no other patients, no office staff to welcome you. I am pretty sure I have seen a horror movie or 2 that began that way- it's amazing how many different thoughts of what is going to happen can go through your head in a split second. But finally, dental assitant Tiana appears. She tells me to have a seat and they will be with me. OK. Finally she comes out and says they are ready for me. There's no one else in the whole place- did I mention my appt was at 10 am? Well anyway, turns out that the other perio in the office doesn't work on Wednesdays, so its just Gomester and Tiana. So, I am literally in the chair for 2 minutes- long enough for him to snip two strings and pull the stitches out and then its time to go! Gomes says he'd like to get a x-ray in a couple months to see how its doing. I naively ask if that means I'm done with him (thinking Mazur can take an x-ray and send it). But no. He wants me to drive down there for him to look at it and take the x-ray so we know if its good to go to hold a permanent tooth or not. OK. Fine. So I will go back at the end of April. Fine. He did mention that it is looking good- actually better than he thought it would. ( I think that's supposed to make me feel good??) Tiana schedules my appointment with her very helpful demeanor ( i think her statement was something of " you just need to pick a time and I'll see if its open" but not in a friendly way. :) )
The Real Verdict
So today I went back to Mazur so they could see how far off it was from the suggested stent placment. Mazur was actually pleasantly surprised too! Says it looks pretty good. So he went ahead and took an x-ray to see how it looked with bone around it, etc. Well... turns out we have a bit of an angle going again. No kidding. BUT- it doesn't look as bad as it was before- so that's good. We even pulled out the old x-ray to see how it compared. So Mazur thinks we will get this looking pretty good. All for a cost though. :) But I knew that before, so here's what we will do. So basically, to make this all work right and have the most natural looking tooth, here is what's to come: We will have to bleach my teeth to get them to the best looking quality to match the crown and veneer and make it look real. (And to do this, we will have to do more impressions- I should have known. :) ) Then of course, there is the crown itself. We are in the aesthetic region- so we want it to look good and not have any shadowy gray. So, there's an option of something called a P2Z. Which is Porcelain to Zirconia. Isn't that similar to diamonds? :) it just sounds expensive- but it's supposed to look really good. Then we will create the veneer to even out the space between the teeth and then we will do a bit of tissue trimming to make sure its all even and viola! All done. :) I really am going to add up the amount this tooth has cost me when we are all done. It still seems like a long haul to get this all finished- so in the end I might be feeling like the million dollar baby and wanting you all to kill me too. :)
For now, still taking it all in stride. I'll go back to Mazur the beginning of April for the bleaching impressions and we will figure out what to do from there. :) It sounds like once we get that going, we will be rolling! So wish me luck! Check back in a month for details!
until then... keep smilin :)
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
A Walk in the Park
So I went in for oral surgery #3 yesterday. YAY! I had seriously been waiting for it for months. I just wanted to go in and get it done and get this ball rolling.
Good News
Well the good news was that I had my drugs in hand, the stent in hand (yes, it came with me :) ) and was ready to go!!! The stent was way cool! It was kind of like an invisalign braces tray- clear plastic with clear tooth with a hole in it to tell him where to drill!
Modest Office
So we get to the office- and I do have to admit I was a bit afraid of what the inside would be like. The promise of "modest" arrangements did have my imagination in a bit of a spin. I am glad to report it was a full functioning dental office. :) By modest I believe he meant it was a bit smaller and not quite as done up as the previous office. (Some lovely 80's wallpaper plastered all over the office too. ) But no Craftsman tool box on the counter, so we were good to go!
In the room where they took me, there were a series of those kitchy Successories poster with Teamwork, Dedication, etc. on them. So when Dr. Gomes walked in, I asked him which of those 5 we were going for today. I suggested Perserverence, but he thought it might be more like Determination. :) We exchanged plesantries, I told him that Dr. Mazur was going to pay for my stent, we were good to go! Game on!
Go Time
So we get going... the stent is a nice stent he says. Problems that arise with the stent is that they don't let successively larger drill bits go through them though. Hmm. I guess it's more like a pilot hole? Well, so things are coming along nicely, or so I think. My appointment did start at 10:30. :) And it's about 11 now. That's when Dr. Gomes announces that he doesn't think we are going to be able to get an implant in there because there's no bone to implant into. Excuse me? So he frantically starts searching around the room for something- I believe a smaller implant or something with a narrow head on it. A dental assistant comes in and announces that there is another patient ready to see him now too. So he shoves some gauze in my mouth, keeps saying that he's not sure this is going to work, but he's going to go check on the other patient and will be back and we can figure this out.
A Little Chat with God
OK- so he leaves and the assistant Tiana, says, well, that doesn't sound like good news, does it? Genius. Pure Genius. I'm pretty sure that's not the kind of stuff you're supposed to say to a patient in that moment. :) So anyway, she leaves too. And so I decide to have a little chat with God that goes a little something like this- "you have got to be kidding me. :)" I'm sure that's what God likes to hear. ;-) So anyway, I say a little prayer for Dr. Gomes and then sit back to listen to the Muzak being piped in the room. It's a soft rock station out of Indy and they are playing some song about how it will all be worth the pain. :) HA! The irony wasn't lost on me. :) I am pretty sure my life is all about irony anyway. :)
Triumphant Return
Ok- Dr. Gomes comes back in and is still saying how he's not sure this is going to work. He then throws in a 'we should have just left that other implant in there and Mazur could have restored it.' Um, No. And it's not there now, so what are we going to do? So with my mouth packed full of gauze, I say, can't you just get it in there and then pack it in tight with some bone grafting all around it and stitch it up real good and hope it doesn't move? He explains that we need to find at least some bone for it to go into and then we can pack around it even if it's not connected to bone on a couple sides. So he takes on the challenge and decides to take a look and see what we have to deal with here. Still repeating about how we should have just left the other one in there, but when he talked to Chriiisss he just asked him what he wanted to do and he wanted to redo it, so we redo it. So miracles happen- he finds some bone! Yay!!! So it is slightly over from where the stent has him drilling, but should still be ok. And sure enough, when he goes to put the implant in, I can definitely feel it is going into bone!!! So he gets it in, packs bone grafting around it, stitches me up and asks for the flipper. He tries the flipper in there to make sure it's not going to press too much on the incision and says it looks good and I am done.
That's right, no mouth full of gauze to walk out of there with- flipper in- I'm talking pretty normally. So I am still a bit sore-I always forget how it does hurt to do things like wash my face and blow my nose though too. So it's a little tender still today. I have been resting quite a bit though too, but of the 3 operations, this one has left me feeling the best. I get occasional twinges of bone pain, but its not too bad. (Of course, the 800 mg Ibuprofen might have something to do with that? ) It's like when you have braces and they have tightened them really good one time and you have a bit of pain... that's about all though.
So we leave the stitches in for 3 weeks now- per my request to try to keep bone grafting in there. He thinks the implant is still close to the same place it was before, but it's not in at an angle so that should be good. I guess we will know in about 3 months. :)
So it's in. It was just like a walk in the park- or the equivalent for me in the dental world at least! :) I'll report back in a few weeks after the stitches come out and maybe have some better idea of where it really is. :) So, I'll keep you posted!
Good News
Well the good news was that I had my drugs in hand, the stent in hand (yes, it came with me :) ) and was ready to go!!! The stent was way cool! It was kind of like an invisalign braces tray- clear plastic with clear tooth with a hole in it to tell him where to drill!
Modest Office
So we get to the office- and I do have to admit I was a bit afraid of what the inside would be like. The promise of "modest" arrangements did have my imagination in a bit of a spin. I am glad to report it was a full functioning dental office. :) By modest I believe he meant it was a bit smaller and not quite as done up as the previous office. (Some lovely 80's wallpaper plastered all over the office too. ) But no Craftsman tool box on the counter, so we were good to go!
In the room where they took me, there were a series of those kitchy Successories poster with Teamwork, Dedication, etc. on them. So when Dr. Gomes walked in, I asked him which of those 5 we were going for today. I suggested Perserverence, but he thought it might be more like Determination. :) We exchanged plesantries, I told him that Dr. Mazur was going to pay for my stent, we were good to go! Game on!
Go Time
So we get going... the stent is a nice stent he says. Problems that arise with the stent is that they don't let successively larger drill bits go through them though. Hmm. I guess it's more like a pilot hole? Well, so things are coming along nicely, or so I think. My appointment did start at 10:30. :) And it's about 11 now. That's when Dr. Gomes announces that he doesn't think we are going to be able to get an implant in there because there's no bone to implant into. Excuse me? So he frantically starts searching around the room for something- I believe a smaller implant or something with a narrow head on it. A dental assistant comes in and announces that there is another patient ready to see him now too. So he shoves some gauze in my mouth, keeps saying that he's not sure this is going to work, but he's going to go check on the other patient and will be back and we can figure this out.
A Little Chat with God
OK- so he leaves and the assistant Tiana, says, well, that doesn't sound like good news, does it? Genius. Pure Genius. I'm pretty sure that's not the kind of stuff you're supposed to say to a patient in that moment. :) So anyway, she leaves too. And so I decide to have a little chat with God that goes a little something like this- "you have got to be kidding me. :)" I'm sure that's what God likes to hear. ;-) So anyway, I say a little prayer for Dr. Gomes and then sit back to listen to the Muzak being piped in the room. It's a soft rock station out of Indy and they are playing some song about how it will all be worth the pain. :) HA! The irony wasn't lost on me. :) I am pretty sure my life is all about irony anyway. :)
Triumphant Return
Ok- Dr. Gomes comes back in and is still saying how he's not sure this is going to work. He then throws in a 'we should have just left that other implant in there and Mazur could have restored it.' Um, No. And it's not there now, so what are we going to do? So with my mouth packed full of gauze, I say, can't you just get it in there and then pack it in tight with some bone grafting all around it and stitch it up real good and hope it doesn't move? He explains that we need to find at least some bone for it to go into and then we can pack around it even if it's not connected to bone on a couple sides. So he takes on the challenge and decides to take a look and see what we have to deal with here. Still repeating about how we should have just left the other one in there, but when he talked to Chriiisss he just asked him what he wanted to do and he wanted to redo it, so we redo it. So miracles happen- he finds some bone! Yay!!! So it is slightly over from where the stent has him drilling, but should still be ok. And sure enough, when he goes to put the implant in, I can definitely feel it is going into bone!!! So he gets it in, packs bone grafting around it, stitches me up and asks for the flipper. He tries the flipper in there to make sure it's not going to press too much on the incision and says it looks good and I am done.
That's right, no mouth full of gauze to walk out of there with- flipper in- I'm talking pretty normally. So I am still a bit sore-I always forget how it does hurt to do things like wash my face and blow my nose though too. So it's a little tender still today. I have been resting quite a bit though too, but of the 3 operations, this one has left me feeling the best. I get occasional twinges of bone pain, but its not too bad. (Of course, the 800 mg Ibuprofen might have something to do with that? ) It's like when you have braces and they have tightened them really good one time and you have a bit of pain... that's about all though.
So we leave the stitches in for 3 weeks now- per my request to try to keep bone grafting in there. He thinks the implant is still close to the same place it was before, but it's not in at an angle so that should be good. I guess we will know in about 3 months. :)
So it's in. It was just like a walk in the park- or the equivalent for me in the dental world at least! :) I'll report back in a few weeks after the stitches come out and maybe have some better idea of where it really is. :) So, I'll keep you posted!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
A Phone Call with Gomes
Well, I know the blog has been silent for months, and now- 2 blogs in one week! Amazing! But this is good stuff!
So I decided to put a call into Gomes today with a few questions for him before showing up Tuesday. The questions were:
1) I will be in Indy tomorrow, do you need me to stop by your office for anything- x-rays, paperwork, etc?
2) What time do you need me there on Tues?
3) Can You call my prescriptions in ahead of time?
Ok- so simple questions. Just collecting a bit of information and touching base. I like communication.
Question 1 & 2
So, he says no, you do not need to stop by - we will just do some x-rays when you are here. I have you scheduled for 10:30 (**LIGHT BULB** I have me scheduled for 10). So I tell him I have it scheduled for 10- oh, yes, show up at 10 for some pre-op stuff that will be fine. Get here sometime between 10 and 10:30.. that's fine too. Flexible. :) That's typically a good quality.
Sidebar- The Stent
He then goes on to say he has talked to Chriiiisss (that's the best way I can emulate his accent via a blog. ) And Chriiiisss is going to send the stent to him. (**LIGHT BULB**- no the stent is coming with me.) So I say, no, I am bringing the stent with me. He says, well I talked to Chriisss and he is having it mailed to me. (After a couple rounds of this, it's clear I'm not going to win this battle. :) ) So, I say, ok... I will check with them Monday afternoon and if they have it, I will bring it with me. He says, yes, it probably is better for you to do that, but I didn't want to put you in the Middle of it. (WHAT??!!!??? It's my tooth!) Right, right, it's no problem for me to pick it up.
Question 3
Can you call in my prescriptions ahead of time so I have them in hand and do not have to inconvenience the person taking me? And then I can pop a pain pill as soon as we are done for the ride home? Yes, of course, when would you like to pick them up? Oh, sometime before Tuesday? :) Ok, I will call them in tomorrow. Ok. He then needs a phone number of a pharmacy. I will look it up- silly CVS bought out Osco- so I will look them both up. Not sure which number is right!
Sidebar- Modesty
So while I am flipping through the phone book, I decide to continue with the conversation and ask how he is liking the new place and how it's working out. He proceeds to tell me he loves it and it is great , but it's a little more modest than the previous place. (**LIGHT BULB** what the heck does that mean????? I am wishing it meant the girls in the office wore their scrubs a bit looser, but I am thinking more along the lines of using an awl and hammer to make the hole for the implant! :) )
So back to the pharmacy- one of the guys I used to coach softball with used to say my job was to slip him a couple qualludes midway though the 4th inning if things weren't going well to keep him from killing the girls. :) Where is he when I need him to return the favor??? :) Do you think I could get a prescription for those too? :)
Grand Finale
So I ask, is there anything else I need to do or know before coming on Tuesday? Oh yes, there will probably be some cost for some consumables that we have to use and for the stent too.(I assume I am paying for a new dead guy to integrate with the implant. That was a previous statement that had been made. I am ok with that. I think I'll call this dead guy Monty. :) ) So the stent is about $130 and probably another $100 or so in supplies and stuff, so probably be about $200-300. Um, Dr. Gomes, so you want me to absorb the cost of the stent??? Yes. (Un Uh. :) ) Hmm. Ok.
Dr. Mazur, this is Mindy Hart calling.... :)
Bottom Line- Mazur is going to pick up the cost, but he's not going to let Gomes forget it. I really think there might be a meeting on the playground after school for this one. ;-) The stent should be in Monday morning's delivery and it will remain on Mazur's lab bill, and I will pick it up and take it with me. No cost to Gomes, no cost to me. I love Dr. Mazur. Please switch to him if you do not already use him as your dentist. :) (small commercial)
So here we go... if I see the Craftsman tool box out on the counter when I get to the chair, I am running. :) Other than that, I am sure it will be an adventure! I can't wait to get this rolling! Stay tuned next week and I'll keep you posted!
So I decided to put a call into Gomes today with a few questions for him before showing up Tuesday. The questions were:
1) I will be in Indy tomorrow, do you need me to stop by your office for anything- x-rays, paperwork, etc?
2) What time do you need me there on Tues?
3) Can You call my prescriptions in ahead of time?
Ok- so simple questions. Just collecting a bit of information and touching base. I like communication.
Question 1 & 2
So, he says no, you do not need to stop by - we will just do some x-rays when you are here. I have you scheduled for 10:30 (**LIGHT BULB** I have me scheduled for 10). So I tell him I have it scheduled for 10- oh, yes, show up at 10 for some pre-op stuff that will be fine. Get here sometime between 10 and 10:30.. that's fine too. Flexible. :) That's typically a good quality.
Sidebar- The Stent
He then goes on to say he has talked to Chriiiisss (that's the best way I can emulate his accent via a blog. ) And Chriiiisss is going to send the stent to him. (**LIGHT BULB**- no the stent is coming with me.) So I say, no, I am bringing the stent with me. He says, well I talked to Chriisss and he is having it mailed to me. (After a couple rounds of this, it's clear I'm not going to win this battle. :) ) So, I say, ok... I will check with them Monday afternoon and if they have it, I will bring it with me. He says, yes, it probably is better for you to do that, but I didn't want to put you in the Middle of it. (WHAT??!!!??? It's my tooth!) Right, right, it's no problem for me to pick it up.
Question 3
Can you call in my prescriptions ahead of time so I have them in hand and do not have to inconvenience the person taking me? And then I can pop a pain pill as soon as we are done for the ride home? Yes, of course, when would you like to pick them up? Oh, sometime before Tuesday? :) Ok, I will call them in tomorrow. Ok. He then needs a phone number of a pharmacy. I will look it up- silly CVS bought out Osco- so I will look them both up. Not sure which number is right!
Sidebar- Modesty
So while I am flipping through the phone book, I decide to continue with the conversation and ask how he is liking the new place and how it's working out. He proceeds to tell me he loves it and it is great , but it's a little more modest than the previous place. (**LIGHT BULB** what the heck does that mean????? I am wishing it meant the girls in the office wore their scrubs a bit looser, but I am thinking more along the lines of using an awl and hammer to make the hole for the implant! :) )
So back to the pharmacy- one of the guys I used to coach softball with used to say my job was to slip him a couple qualludes midway though the 4th inning if things weren't going well to keep him from killing the girls. :) Where is he when I need him to return the favor??? :) Do you think I could get a prescription for those too? :)
Grand Finale
So I ask, is there anything else I need to do or know before coming on Tuesday? Oh yes, there will probably be some cost for some consumables that we have to use and for the stent too.(I assume I am paying for a new dead guy to integrate with the implant. That was a previous statement that had been made. I am ok with that. I think I'll call this dead guy Monty. :) ) So the stent is about $130 and probably another $100 or so in supplies and stuff, so probably be about $200-300. Um, Dr. Gomes, so you want me to absorb the cost of the stent??? Yes. (Un Uh. :) ) Hmm. Ok.
Dr. Mazur, this is Mindy Hart calling.... :)
Bottom Line- Mazur is going to pick up the cost, but he's not going to let Gomes forget it. I really think there might be a meeting on the playground after school for this one. ;-) The stent should be in Monday morning's delivery and it will remain on Mazur's lab bill, and I will pick it up and take it with me. No cost to Gomes, no cost to me. I love Dr. Mazur. Please switch to him if you do not already use him as your dentist. :) (small commercial)
So here we go... if I see the Craftsman tool box out on the counter when I get to the chair, I am running. :) Other than that, I am sure it will be an adventure! I can't wait to get this rolling! Stay tuned next week and I'll keep you posted!
Monday, January 22, 2007
The Freaky Tooth Blog is Back!
Ok- so it's been a couple months since the last post. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. Unfortunately Santa did not bring me a tooth for Christmas. But, maybe he will for Christmas in July! That's right, I said July. I will get to why it might be July in a few paragraphs, but first here is what has been happening.
The Stent
Ok- so remember there were a lot of things that were supposed to happen at the first of the year? One of which was that Gomes would call Mazur and make sure we got the stent ordered. Well, I did talk to Mazur sometime between the last posting and the Christmas break to tell him what was said, and he put it on his calendar to contact Gomes if he had not heard from him by about January 3rd. Well- it's January 22nd, the implant goes in on January 30th, and the stent is still not ordered. Mazur has put in a couple calls to Gomes with no return. He finally called him back on Friday and wondered if Mazur had ordered the stent yet. AAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!
The Flipper
Well, it just so happens that I think there actually might be some bone graft growth going on! YAY! My flipper started hitting something in the hole about a month ago and was continuing to do so. So I went in to Mazur this morning for a flipper adjustment thinking that would be good timing before the surgery next week. We got it all fixed up! Woo hoo!
Odds and Ends
So Dr. Mazur and I decided we would go ahead and order the stent today- we should be able to get it in by Monday next week. There was a debate as to if we should send it directly to Gomes or not... I decided I'd rather take it with me. It should come in their morning delivery on Monday and then I can pick it up Monday afternoon and have it for Tuesday. If Gomes doesn't pay for it, then Dr. Mazur will. I told him at this point I'd pay for it because I just want it done right- but he said I shouldn't have to and he would if Gomes doesn't. But guess what- that required more impressions. No joke. :) Dr. Mazur thought it would be best for them to have a current model to design the stent from, instead of the previous wax up- especially since I think there is bone growth going on there. I really really wonder what they do with those molds when they are done. Time for a Dateline investigation with Chris Hansen. :)
I also asked Dr. Mazur what kind of timeline we are looking at for getting this done. He suggested 3-4 months of bone growth and integration (i'm hoping for 3 months- I integrated very well last time!! ) Then we will start the prep work for the crown and the veneer. I agreed with Dr. Mazur that we would try to even out the space with a veneer on top of it and the adjacent I-tooth. Dr. Mazur also said he would be able to put the abutment in too- so then I don't have to go down to Indy to try to get it done and get back up here for an appointment to fit something on it. The crown and veneer and stuff will all take a few weeks too. So add on another Month. So... thats 5 months total... so July. Yay.
So I go to Gomes in a week. I have done a drive-by of his new place, but it was a weekend so it was not open. It is in a hispanic neighborhood- which I guess is a good population for him being from Venezuela and all. :) I will be giving him a call later on this week to make sure everything is in order and to see if he will call in my prescriptions ahead of time, so I can have some drugs with me to pop in before the hour long ride home. Pretty much the pattern has been that I get home, I take some drugs, I ice my face, and I take a nap. Then I am good to go by that evening. :) So hopefully I can try to continue that pattern in the car on the way home and will be no worse for the wear.
All I know is that I am ready to get this party started! Pack me with cadaver bone and ship me on my way! So wish me luck- or better yet, wish Dr. Gomes luck. :) The good news is that if he messes it up this time, Dr. Mazur is getting trained to do implants using some hi-tech equipment and I can go to him. :) I can't wait to report in next week and let you all know how it goes! Until then....
The Stent
Ok- so remember there were a lot of things that were supposed to happen at the first of the year? One of which was that Gomes would call Mazur and make sure we got the stent ordered. Well, I did talk to Mazur sometime between the last posting and the Christmas break to tell him what was said, and he put it on his calendar to contact Gomes if he had not heard from him by about January 3rd. Well- it's January 22nd, the implant goes in on January 30th, and the stent is still not ordered. Mazur has put in a couple calls to Gomes with no return. He finally called him back on Friday and wondered if Mazur had ordered the stent yet. AAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!
The Flipper
Well, it just so happens that I think there actually might be some bone graft growth going on! YAY! My flipper started hitting something in the hole about a month ago and was continuing to do so. So I went in to Mazur this morning for a flipper adjustment thinking that would be good timing before the surgery next week. We got it all fixed up! Woo hoo!
Odds and Ends
So Dr. Mazur and I decided we would go ahead and order the stent today- we should be able to get it in by Monday next week. There was a debate as to if we should send it directly to Gomes or not... I decided I'd rather take it with me. It should come in their morning delivery on Monday and then I can pick it up Monday afternoon and have it for Tuesday. If Gomes doesn't pay for it, then Dr. Mazur will. I told him at this point I'd pay for it because I just want it done right- but he said I shouldn't have to and he would if Gomes doesn't. But guess what- that required more impressions. No joke. :) Dr. Mazur thought it would be best for them to have a current model to design the stent from, instead of the previous wax up- especially since I think there is bone growth going on there. I really really wonder what they do with those molds when they are done. Time for a Dateline investigation with Chris Hansen. :)
I also asked Dr. Mazur what kind of timeline we are looking at for getting this done. He suggested 3-4 months of bone growth and integration (i'm hoping for 3 months- I integrated very well last time!! ) Then we will start the prep work for the crown and the veneer. I agreed with Dr. Mazur that we would try to even out the space with a veneer on top of it and the adjacent I-tooth. Dr. Mazur also said he would be able to put the abutment in too- so then I don't have to go down to Indy to try to get it done and get back up here for an appointment to fit something on it. The crown and veneer and stuff will all take a few weeks too. So add on another Month. So... thats 5 months total... so July. Yay.
So I go to Gomes in a week. I have done a drive-by of his new place, but it was a weekend so it was not open. It is in a hispanic neighborhood- which I guess is a good population for him being from Venezuela and all. :) I will be giving him a call later on this week to make sure everything is in order and to see if he will call in my prescriptions ahead of time, so I can have some drugs with me to pop in before the hour long ride home. Pretty much the pattern has been that I get home, I take some drugs, I ice my face, and I take a nap. Then I am good to go by that evening. :) So hopefully I can try to continue that pattern in the car on the way home and will be no worse for the wear.
All I know is that I am ready to get this party started! Pack me with cadaver bone and ship me on my way! So wish me luck- or better yet, wish Dr. Gomes luck. :) The good news is that if he messes it up this time, Dr. Mazur is getting trained to do implants using some hi-tech equipment and I can go to him. :) I can't wait to report in next week and let you all know how it goes! Until then....
Monday, November 20, 2006
Let's get this show on the Road!
Ok- so, it's been a while. I am happy to report that not much has happened since the last posting. But here is an update on a few issues...
The Gomester had said he would call me somewhere near the beginning of November to start getting appointments set up. So last week, when it was the middle of November and I still had yet to hear from him, I took measures into my own hands. And needless to say, let the phone tag begin!!!! So I have now been introduced to Charlotte and Sue via phone. They must be the main office workers in the new office. And while I will try to reserve judgement until I actually meet them, they don't seem to hold a candle to Theresa or Christy at the places up here!!!! Anyway, I explained the situation (being a patient of Gomes from Lafayette with him continuing my service down there) and wanting to get appointments set up. They are not familiar with my case, of course, so they will need to talk to Gomes and see what they need to set up. I also mentioned that he had said he might be able to come up here and do the implant and to check and see if that is still an option. Finally, I got a phone call on Friday to set up my appointment. Unfortunately, it is NOT going to be up here in Lafayette. (On a side note, I don't think he ended on such good terms up here, so I am not surprised and had expected that to happen. ) So, Charlotte and I schedule my appointment for February 9th. Gomes wants to make sure there is a good 4 months of bone growth. That would be 4 1/2 months. And it is scheduled during a conference I am supposed to attend for work. I was in a hurry as they were calling me on my way out the door, so i just went with it.
Well, my creative side hit me this weekend- why not call back and reschedule? :) See if they will do it the week before that- and then for my mental health, they will actually be doing it in January too! February seems so far away. And then just postpones the final product that much longer. Sooo... I called today and talked to Sue. And we were able to schedule it for January 30th. That just seems so much better to me!
Previously I had estimated that it might be done in April- or so I hoped. Well, I am not a math whiz, but using the information they had given me when we originally did the implant to say that it would take about 4 months from start to finish, I now can estimate it will most likely be June before it's done. And that is if all goes well. And they don't want another 4 months for bone growth. I will continue to push it along of course...but i think we will make sure we leave the stitches in a few extra days so nothing has the opportunity to move again. :)
I had a few other questions for Gomes, and poor Charlotte had to be the go between because he was in a procedure during that time. But I also found out he has not order the stent yet. GRRR. he said he would contact Mazur at the beginning of the year and get that ordered. Nuh Uh. :) I will be calling Dr. Mazur on Monday and asking him to meet Gomes out in the parking lot after school and put the smackdown on him. :) Or to at least give him a call and tell him they need to go ahead and order that now.
Also, I asked about the potential of wanting to see me before then to make sure some of the bone graft had stayed put and we were actually growing bone before I show up and we just start drilling for oil. He said he will just have Mazur take a few x-rays before I come and send them down there to him. And that will, of course, happen at the first of the year. :)
So, we play the hurry up and wait game. I never did ask about the tissue graft yet, I figure I will wait til I see him to ask about that. I think he thinks it will be fine once we put the implant back in... that will stretch out the tissue or he can do some sculpting with bone grafting. We will see.
So that's about all for this month... I'll try to include a Christmas update and let you know if Santa brings me my front tooth for christmas- I'm just asking for one, not 2! :) Until then, hope you all have a great holiday and I'll keep you posted!
The Gomester had said he would call me somewhere near the beginning of November to start getting appointments set up. So last week, when it was the middle of November and I still had yet to hear from him, I took measures into my own hands. And needless to say, let the phone tag begin!!!! So I have now been introduced to Charlotte and Sue via phone. They must be the main office workers in the new office. And while I will try to reserve judgement until I actually meet them, they don't seem to hold a candle to Theresa or Christy at the places up here!!!! Anyway, I explained the situation (being a patient of Gomes from Lafayette with him continuing my service down there) and wanting to get appointments set up. They are not familiar with my case, of course, so they will need to talk to Gomes and see what they need to set up. I also mentioned that he had said he might be able to come up here and do the implant and to check and see if that is still an option. Finally, I got a phone call on Friday to set up my appointment. Unfortunately, it is NOT going to be up here in Lafayette. (On a side note, I don't think he ended on such good terms up here, so I am not surprised and had expected that to happen. ) So, Charlotte and I schedule my appointment for February 9th. Gomes wants to make sure there is a good 4 months of bone growth. That would be 4 1/2 months. And it is scheduled during a conference I am supposed to attend for work. I was in a hurry as they were calling me on my way out the door, so i just went with it.
Well, my creative side hit me this weekend- why not call back and reschedule? :) See if they will do it the week before that- and then for my mental health, they will actually be doing it in January too! February seems so far away. And then just postpones the final product that much longer. Sooo... I called today and talked to Sue. And we were able to schedule it for January 30th. That just seems so much better to me!
Previously I had estimated that it might be done in April- or so I hoped. Well, I am not a math whiz, but using the information they had given me when we originally did the implant to say that it would take about 4 months from start to finish, I now can estimate it will most likely be June before it's done. And that is if all goes well. And they don't want another 4 months for bone growth. I will continue to push it along of course...but i think we will make sure we leave the stitches in a few extra days so nothing has the opportunity to move again. :)
I had a few other questions for Gomes, and poor Charlotte had to be the go between because he was in a procedure during that time. But I also found out he has not order the stent yet. GRRR. he said he would contact Mazur at the beginning of the year and get that ordered. Nuh Uh. :) I will be calling Dr. Mazur on Monday and asking him to meet Gomes out in the parking lot after school and put the smackdown on him. :) Or to at least give him a call and tell him they need to go ahead and order that now.
Also, I asked about the potential of wanting to see me before then to make sure some of the bone graft had stayed put and we were actually growing bone before I show up and we just start drilling for oil. He said he will just have Mazur take a few x-rays before I come and send them down there to him. And that will, of course, happen at the first of the year. :)
So, we play the hurry up and wait game. I never did ask about the tissue graft yet, I figure I will wait til I see him to ask about that. I think he thinks it will be fine once we put the implant back in... that will stretch out the tissue or he can do some sculpting with bone grafting. We will see.
So that's about all for this month... I'll try to include a Christmas update and let you know if Santa brings me my front tooth for christmas- I'm just asking for one, not 2! :) Until then, hope you all have a great holiday and I'll keep you posted!
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