Dental impressions

Thought I'd share a few thoughts on - well, on dental crown preparation. As you do, if you've just sat through this procedure. For after a couple of false starts - nerve needing removed, antibiotics needed for minor infection - we at last got the mouth full of gunk that I'd been looking forward to the last time I visited my dentist. And that was the first surprise: the gunk used for taking impressions (alginate, I believe - like cheap non-dairy ice cream, it's made from kelp) was pink, not blue or bright green as in the past. And dolloped into its plastic frame, it was jolly cold, so that even my numbed jaw twangled unpleasantly as I sat gaping, trying not to gag. And what was with all these wee bits of warm wax? I'm sure I didn't have these pressed variously to my teeth on previous occasions.

And of course the temporary crown makes me feel like a hippo. Quite apart from the fact that it's strangely blobby in shape (it's a molar, top) and rubs my tongue horribly, I've been used to having very little tooth at all in that space for months. Now I have what might be a dod of chewing gum stuck there, and every morsel of food I eat adheres grimly to it. Apparently it has to be this size because the tooth - or what's left of it - is so comprehensively couped that it needs to be protected till the crown is ready. And that, O Best Beloved, won't be for a fortnight.

And the dentist? He remained irritatingly cheerful throughout. Bless his cotton scrubs.