Tep, I totally validate the change dentist recommendations. Anyone in a service industry who is not an emergency room doctor who is removing a spear from your frontal lobe, should take your input into consideration. It's wrong on every level to disrespect a request like yours.

Happy birthday, Epic! I got to 42 and was told to rephrase the question.

Ginger speaks for me. On both counts.

she said root canals can be slow to heal because of diabetes, and I said "I don't have diabetes," and she said, "Really? Maybe you should get that checked."

okay, this made me laugh. ruefully.

And, you know? I *am* slower to heal than the average person, which is *another* reason I get my glucose checked annually. It is a suspicious thing -- slow healing -- but it's just how I roll, apparently. (And might be why my gum infection isn't gone yet.)

Anyone in a service industry who is not an emergency room doctor who is removing a spear from your frontal lobe, should take your input into consideration. It's wrong on every level to disrespect a request like yours.

Chatty!co-worker told me that he has a phrase he quickly pulls out with healthcare providers who get shirty with him: "I think you're misunderstanding our relationship." I wish I had heard that one *before* my appointment this morning.

Happy birthday, O Most Epic of Tangents!

I love this phrase and will pet it and call it George.

Le Nubian is right though. I am 10 months into 42 and the answer is elusive.

Darnit!

Happy Birthday, Epic! Get some good ice cream, or chocolate, or something, and create your own birthday fuss!

Oh, yes, there will be chocolate chips at lunch. Probably a sandwich or something too, but there WILL be chocolate!

Also -- I forgot this -- she said root canals can be slow to heal because of diabetes, and I said "I don't have diabetes," and she said, "Really? Maybe you should get that checked."

Oh Hell to the NO SHE DINT! My vote now is that all she gets to see of you from now on is your shapely ass as you walk away.

Oh, and late to the yays - but yay for good tests for Ginger & ita !'s mom!

Happy birthday, ET!

Yeah, I'll jump on the Lose the Dickly Dentist train, Steph. Root canals and crowns are pretty common. Unless your dentist was working with some exciting new treatment method (it doesn't sound like he was) a new dentist should be able to take over without major problems.

Happy birthday, Epic!!

And yeah, Steph, DTMFDentist.

There's a feral cat situation next to my boss' house, and I'm going to have to step up and deal with it. There were three very sick kittens and now there are two, because one was dead this morning. They may need to be put down, and in any case I cannot foster or adopt them. There are 4-6 other cats that need TNR. The neighbor was feeding a couple and then more showed up, and she slowly stopped feeding them. Uh, clearly they're not going away.

My sister has offered to help me pay for the neutering, which will be $25/cat. I think I'm going to try and catch the kittens tomorrow if I don't have to work, and borrow some traps for the others. I really didn't want to get into this business, but I don't like watching kittens die and knowing that more will be born to die if I don't do something.

Steph, I had a complication with a root canal with infection continuing after the root canal, and I got an apictoectomy, so there are definitely options other than pulling the tooth.

(entire saga follows)

I had the root canal, but still had soreness above the gum (between my nose and cheekbone) and my dentist sent me to an endodontist, who said that in a small percentage of cases, removing the main nerve from the tooth doesn't get rid of the infection. The apicoectomy removes the end of the root, where the infected little nervelets are hanging out.

I had a several month wait for the apicoectomy, and wasn't given antibiotics until just before the procedure because my face started swelling up. I didn't respond to the first antibiotic so after a couple of days the endodontist put me on another antibiotic.

I have to say that even though I was a bit grossed out by the idea of it, I felt better the day after the apicoectomy than I had since my tooth started hurting before the root canal.

Happy Birthday, Epic! Woohoo for self-celebration and ALL the Crowns! And chocolate!

Tep, I've just recently muddled through my own tooth-pulling mire. I have to admit I shared David's suspicion, that my own dentist was anticipating an expensive implant and needlessly destroying, instead of reconstructing, a painless and functioning tooth. I've had those feelings of being a self-neglecting yokel who's going to wind up with three teeth in my head.

But if you're willing to go out of network and pay out of pocket, I'd be in the chair at Tim's dentist in a heartbeat. If the only thing your present guy has going for her is being in network? Move on. It's your tooth in your head, and you're the one who has to live with those consequences.

Second opinion is only prudent, at any point in the procedure.

smonster, that's really admirable of you. Good luck with it. Thanks for being a good human who cares about the suffering of other creatures.

And in the interest of equal time - though I haven't seen a great deal of her lately, I do believe that today is also tiggy's birthday. So, tiggy, Happy Birthday to You! I hope you get to be exactly as much of a Birthday Princess as you want to be!

Good news - one of my co-workers remembered my birthday and gave me an enormous bar of dark chocolate. Which is funny because I'm usually not that big of a fan of dark, but she is, and I sent her a link to that article last week about the health benefits of dark chocolate. So I got to say that she wished me a happy birthday, plus wants the best for my health. Also also, I recently figured out I'm lactose intolerant - Dark Chocolate FTW!

Whatever, Steph. I can see your diabetes from here. Why are you arguing? You don't have a dentical degree.

Happy Birthday, Epic!

Put me in the "Steph needs a new dentist" camp. Getting a second opinion is only a reasonable reaction . But the diabetes crack would be my dealbreaker. (But if there are non-diabetes conditions that may cause slow healing, it might become appropriate to rule them out. Depending on how the second opinion goes.)