Finally, a dentist I can trust

I decided last fall that I was going to do something about my teeth; actually, I don't have that many, and some of the few I have are crowns. I was going to get really brave and get dentures, but the last time I went to an oral surgeon to get a tooth pulled, he said that my teeth are hanging in so tight, I'd be wise (and happier) to go with a partial.

Back to my regular dentist, who actually got angry when I suggested a partial. He wanted to do bridgework and have a failing root canal redone (at extreme expense, and then it still might fail). Oh, and for the spot where there's a missing tooth that shows when I smile broadly, he wanted to do an implant. And he really talked to me in a high-and-mighty tone, insinuating that I was stupid not to want to spend so much money.

January 1, our insurance changed, and that dentist was no longer a preferred provider anyhow. So I needed to start all over.

I looked online for a nearby dentist who was on the new insurance's "approved" list and saw one, a lady dentist, in the next town over. I set up an appointment.

What I did not know was that the Rodgers/Lafayette clinic is sort of a charity place: they keep prices low, or set up payments for those who can't pay all at once. It's a wonderful work they're doing, but as in the case of any facility like this, the waiting time is long. By long, I mean two hours or more. And once you're in the office, things don't move any faster. The lady dentist seemed OK; her assistant left much to be desired. After cleaning and x-rays and two appointments, I decided to switch to Cliff's dentist, who is in the same town. The only reason I didn't choose him to start with was that it often takes weeks, even months, to get in to see him.

Let me just insert this: Do NOT pick your dentist from a list, knowing nothing about him or her. My mistake.

I called Rodgers/Lafayette and signed for my x-rays to be sent to Cliff's dentist. I called for an appointment yesterday, and they made the appointment for..... today! Unfortunately, the x-rays that were supposed to be sent had not arrived, so after my consultation, I went over there to see what the problem was, and found out the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. I think I got them moving; they said they'd have the x-rays sent by this afternoon. If I hadn't stopped by, they would never have been sent.

My new dentist had sensible, affordable solutions to all my problems. He didn't make me feel like an idiot for not wanting to spend thousands of dollars on teeth that have always been far from perfect, teeth that I'm sure have a very limited life span at this point.

Third time is charm, they say.

I planted twenty-five strawberry plants today. Because my knees won't let me bend, I sit on a bucket and stoop over to do work on the ground such as planting or weeding. After running the tiller (I can do that, even with bad knees), it was a matter of setting out a plant, getting up and moving my bucket and the container with the plants and the container of water, sitting on the bucket again.... well, let's just say it's tedious work. But it's done now. The bad part is there won't be strawberries until next year.

My plants all survived the freeze last night. I guess I'd consider this a good day.