1. My boy cat has bad teeth, and always has. We brush his teeth, but not regularly enough. The vet showed me where his teeth are decaying (a cavity in a human is a tooth resorption in a cat) and how his jaw quivers and chatters when she touches his gums in certain places. Not good. In a couple of weeks we have to take him in for a cleaning, and possibly a tooth extraction. Poor cat. Fillings are not fun, but they aren't even an option for cats.
2. I'm probably going to lose one of my front teeth. I had a root canal treatment done when I was 15, and a cap installed on the remaining tooth. When I was 22, the tooth broke off, and I had it replaced with a metal post. Last fall, the post became loose, and my new dentist re-cemented it but cautioned that there might be a deeper problem with the underlying tooth. Sure enough, it felt loose again this week, and this, combined with other symptoms, confirmed my dentist's suspicions that there is a crack in the root of my tooth. Given that the treatment is tooth extraction and a dental implant (a very involved and expensive process), he tried shaving the crown to adjust my bite to see how that helps. The tooth has been dead for a long time, so it doesn't hurt or anything, but this blows.
3. The Code on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature, part of the Current Dental Terminology manual provides a standard way of coding dental procedures to meet the HIPAA standards.
So, this means that I have reached an age where..
- I have enough health-related expenditures that I should utilize the flexible spending account option in my benefits package, and
- I (to my horror) consider my medical procedures a worthy conversation topic at the water cooler. Oh man. Me and my busted up old self...
1 comment:
Oh! Our boy cat has genetically bad teeth too. He just had his third tooth out a couple weeks ago. Because of this, we're trying to be better about maintenance, but that's tough, as you know. The vet told me that there's a product, OxyFresh, I think, sold at pet stores that loosens plaque. It's flavorless and goes in their water. We haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like a good idea to me!
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