The 'before' shot

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:22:03 -0700

I am in the process of spending an obsene amount of money getting my teeth fixed so thought it would be good to post a 'before' photo here for posterity.

The really discoloured one (top front right in this photo) is one that I damaged as a child (Note to parents: keep your children away from trampolines if you don't want to be forking over huge amounts of money to your dentist!) and has been gradually dying and becoming more discoloured over the years. I am getting a porcelain veneer put onto this one to make it appear whiter. The other option for this one was root canal surgery and colouring from inside but this would have been more intrusive and expensive and the dentist didn't think it was necessary given that this tooth really isn't giving me any trouble despite it being dead.

The one next to it is actually not a real tooth at all but a plastic falsie on a denture (you can just see one of the ugly metal wires from the denture in the left of the picture). I knocked the original tooth out in the same accident. This is where the real expense comes in as I am having this one replaced with a dental implant which is a porcelain tooth anchored in by a screw implanted in my upper jaw. I have already had the surgery to have the screw implanted (this was much more of a big deal than I realised and I had close to a week off work afterwards as it was so painful afterwards) and just went back to the dentist a few days okay to check that everything has healed up okay before moving onto the next stage. Later this week, I will go in again to get some impressions done (you know when they stick those horrible plates full of gunk into your mouth). These will be used to make a replica of my mouth which the technician will refer to in making my new teeth.

All up, this is costing almost AU$10,000.00! I decided to get it done after inheriting some money from my grandfather last year. I also figured that it wasn't going to get any cheaper if I waited and in the meantime, the denture (my 3rd or 4th in about 30 years) is damaging my other teeth and causing gum problems and was due for replacement anyway. The other problem with that if I had started showing any signs of bone density deterioration (had to have a bone scan done to check this), then I could never get it done. This is a real danger for me as osteoporosis is something that runs in the family. The signs of osteoporosis generally start showing around the same age as menopause (estimating this is about 5-10 years away for me).

I will post some 'after' shots once it is all finished. The dentist has also been taking plenty of photos which he said he would email me. Of course, he is quite gleeful about all this. What I am paying him will make quite a nice dent in his kids' private school fees!

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Boring Saturday morning stuff

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:29:56 -0800

Just to be even more boring, below the yoga picture is my shopping list for today. I usually try and knock it over on my way home from yoga but can't do that this morning as didn't think I could ask anyone to mind little J for me at 7:30am (a lovely friend did offer but thought that might be stretching the friendship a bit).

Yoga_may20

Milk
Bread (nothing with obvious seeds)
Rice bubbles (attempt to cater to ds's breakfast fussiness)
Yoghurt (plain and flav)
Loo paper (can't believe how much of this we go through!)
food contribution for holiday care (ie, something unhealthy like white bread rolls and hot dogs)
Burritoes (aka 'roly poly bread')
Pasta (have run out of the nice stuff from Pasta Factory in Leichhardt so will be on the Barilla for a while - ds actually prefers it)
Cars icypoles (ds just asked me to add this to the list - we'll see!)
Mince (I like this as I can cook up a whole batch, sneak some grated vegies in and serve in different ways, eg, burritoes, spag bol, rice and mince etc etc)
Bones (for Mollie the dog)
Chicken wings (another kid favourite - bake them with a bit of olive oil, salt and paprika)
Something to roast, eg, leg of lamb
Fish (kids view fish eating as similar to torture but try and get at least one fish meal into them per week)
Cucumber (kids go through loads of these - must be the Lebanese type though)
Tomatos (large plus cherry ones)
Lettuce (has to be cos)
Rocket (just not a salad without rocket)
fetta cheese (really like the Bulgarian one but trying to stick to the low-fat Australian kind with the texture like rubber)
Muesli
Pizza bases (usually make pizzas as a Fri night treat)
Tomato puree/passata (buy the bottles in bulk as this is something else we go through by the crate-load)
Mangoes
Stone fruit
Bananas
Apples
Oranges
Grapes
Water melon
zucchini
asparagus (my favourite 'convenience vegetable')
snow peas
carrots

Also have to go to the dental imaging place as looking at getting implants and other dental work done. Can probably see the awful state of two front teeth in the photo. Going to be a very, very expensive business! Watch this space.

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