The dentist
Today I went to the dentist. They used a new tool on my teeth. It’s like the regular tooth scraper pick, except that it vibrates at ultra-sonic speeds. It has a continuous stream of water to cool it because otherwise it would catch my mouth on fire or something.
It’s… exceedingly unpleasant.
September 16th, 2004 at 7:05 pm
i went to the dentist yesterday for the first time in three and a half years. even though i’m grinding my teeth away to nothing, they still said i had great teeth. they must see some scary stuff!
September 17th, 2004 at 9:25 am
Yeah, some people like the ultrasonic, some don’t. I fall somewhere in between as long as my wife is the hygienist doing the work, because she knows to avoid certain angles of the tool against my teeth that make my entire skull rattle at an unsettling frequency. And, if I’m not completely mistaken (it’s possible!), the water is actually what carries the ultrasonic waves and is ultimately doing the scraping. So I think the fire hazard is low.
September 17th, 2004 at 9:48 am
Well, that’s what I was thinking when she was blasting the thing at my teeth: “Wow, she’s blasting my teeth with really fast water, that’s crazy.” It felt like the water was hitting pretty hard, anyway. And I thought that was pretty cool. But then when I asked for a better explanation, she said it was the tip that was vibrating, and I became less enamored with the procedure.
It guess it’s not that much worse than the dental pick from a “total unpleasantness” standpoint, I just wasn’t used to it and it felt like it was throwing little needles into my gums.
September 17th, 2004 at 2:01 pm
How painful this is depends on the person using the thingy. One dentist I went to was pretty considerate with it and I loved it. The dentist I have now blazes across my teeth as if he’s in a big hurry occasionally torching my gums and acting suprised if I flinch. I’m happily swithcing dentists soon but I think they all use that ultrasonic these days:(
September 20th, 2004 at 9:17 am
Verified with my wife yesterday that the device works as you described, John. Shows you what I know!
February 16th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Can I subscribe to this blogs feed? Jorge in Austin