Today I’m going to tell you about my covid-safe visit to the dentists last week.
You may remember (or maybe not) that six months ago I had several visits to the dentist to have a new small palate made. It’s to fit where I had two milk teeth missing. I never did get the grown up ones, and the milk teeth went to the tooth fairy when I was quite ancient. As they’re at the front of my mouth the gaps are quite obvious (to me anyway) especially when I smile. I think I somewhat resemble a toothless wonder.
Anyway, it was time for a new one so that’s where we are. I’d had three visits to go through the stages of making it. The last one was booked, but a week after they had to close because of the dreaded virus. Six months later and my appointment eventually arrived, but I didn’t know I was in for a lesson in how to keep a surgery safe!
My Covid-Safe visit to the Dentist
I soon found out! First, the receptionist unlocked the door to let me in, followed by hand wash, followed by a seat that had been de-bugged after the last patient had left it.
It was a bit like some of the sci-fi films I’ve watched when the world comes to an end. You know, sort of having new rules or the world will be wiped out. A very sobering thought me thinks!
Of course the dentist and his assistant were wearing all the clothing and masks they had to wear while I also had my mask on. Again a necessity in the waiting room, although I did wonder how he was going to look into the great gaping cavity of my mouth and throat while I’d got it on.
Obviously it had to come off and then the fun started. First everything I carried – handbags, coats etc – had to be put into a big plastic box with the lid on until we left.
Disinfected
Then I learned that if anyone had a scrape and polish or fillings etc, they sterilised the whole room with disinfectant mist and it has to be left empty for an hour until declared fit to use. Goodness, the mind boggles doesn’t it. Apparently it’s because the equipment uses water, which forms a mist. The mist is obviously mixed with saliva, which might contain virus.
Think of the time wasted while the dentist can’t do anything for an hour, although I managed not to ask mine what he did in all the wasted time!
So, unless it’s pre-planned, they can’t use water in the surgery, to which I asked how did they manage without water? As we all know, if you’re having a pneumatic drill going in your head, water and suction are used to get rid of all the bits and lumps that fall off in your mouth, ugh!
So it went on and on, with a rule for this and a rule for that, with me wondering how they remembered it all. I would have done at one time, until the grey matter started to disappear with old age. So it’s a good job I don’t work where you have to remember things or else!
Where’s my Palate?
Anyway, on to my palate. First of all they couldn’t find it, and thought it might have gone to the Fleetwood surgery. At the start of the outbreak they’d worked from there. After much searching it turned up, much to my relief. But I was soon deflated when he couldn’t get the blooming thing in.
I thought to myself “aren’t we alright here” after the fifth attempt to shove it in, with his knee on my chest. A woman wouldn’t have had the strength, would she.
All the time this was going on, one side of my gum was being scraped with a sharp bit on the palate. I sort of mumbled as though I had a mouthful of pebbles and concrete that it was hurting, but on he went, trying to get the other side in. The palate has a sort of wire on top of it on the inside, very thin wire. It’s a tensioned one which allows the palate to go in my mouth and then open up to grip, so there isn’t a chance of it shooting out into the middle of someone’s dinner when you sneeze.
In and out it came, like a see saw goes up and down, until he realised by the funny way that I was trying to talk that it was stuck half in and half out! At that point, he realised it didn’t fit as I now sounded like I was very deaf and couldn’t speak properly. So he got my old impression out, a white grinning mass of my teeth, to fit the palate to that.
Would you believe it!
Would you believe that one of my double teeth had rotated a bit so the palate wasn’t going to fit, was it. So he set off grinding down the heavily filled tooth adjoining the palate to see if that would work. With a polishing bit and a dry drill I might add. No water allowed!
Did it eck work. So he decided to fill my mouth, probably to stop me talking, with that horrible freezing cold resin alginate or whatever it is, to take yet another impression. There I was with my mouth stuffed full of the stuff, tickling my tonsils, with the dentists hand also in my mouth pushing up to the roof of my mouth with all his might. So you can bet I enjoyed that, not!
When he took it out, I thought it would pull my teeth out with it as there was such a lot of suction. There I was, thinking I really would look like a toothless wonder if that was the case. But no, out it came leaving all my teeth where they should be thank goodness.
Another Covid-Safe visit to the Dentist to come…
The plan is to send the new impression back to the maker with the old impression and the palate to see if it can be adjusted or if I need a new one making, oh what joy.
The sheer fact of being without one for six months has allowed my teeth to do a dance around my mouth and now the teeth don’t fit. I ought to have known as nothing is straightforward with anything I do. So it’s back to the dentist in two weeks for a re-run so what will happen then I don’t know!
If anyone is wondering, this was a light hearted look at going to the dentists. They’re very good and there was quite a lot of laughing going on while all this was happening. No way am I trying to make them look inefficient, as they are the best I’ve been to around here, but you just have to see the funny side of life don’t you!!
While you’re here…
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