So I just went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. I'm now going every four months because I totally suck at cleaning my teeth. But Chris (the dental hygienist, not my brother) said that my teeth and gums are much better than the last couple of times, but that could just be because I was only there four months ago.

There is a new dentist, Dr Kevin Dowd, who is taking over Dr Neal Satre's practice. He seemed like a nice enough man, although for the most part I only see Chris during my visits. Dr Dowd wants to put in a couple of fillings, one for a crevice in a tooth and another on one of my molars which is chipped, probably from when I had my wisdom teeth taken out.

Writing of which, that was back when I was in college. My dad, brother, sister and I went to Peru and my dad took the opportunity to have a local doctor pull out my wisdom teeth. It wasn't that bad, although my teeth were impacted so they had to be broken up into smaller pieces so that the dentist could pull them out. Or maybe that was Dave, and mine was bone being in the way that had to be cut through.

Anyway, it wasn't so bad like I wrote. I got shot up with novocain, one shot on each tooth. Wickedly bitter, but it did numb my mouth. Didn't really affect my consciousness, so I could feel the dentist pulling and pulling to get my tooth out before he decided to break it up.

So I guess during that operation the side of one of my molars was scratched up. Dr Dowd thought that and my other tooth would be good places for plaque to build up, so he wants to fill them in a bit. That didn't sound too bad, he knows what he's doing. Scheduling an appointment for two hours to do it worries me a bit, especially because my root canal only took an hour or so.

There's this new dental floss that I got from the dentist's office. It's ultra shred-resistant, wider than normal floss which is nice since you can wrap it around your fingers and use it without it biting so deep. It's also got some sort of waxy exterior so that it more easily slide between your teeth. Only 5 yards though for the trial size, I remember when it used to be 12 yards.

This reminds me that I should get a physical this year. It'd be kind of ironic to have nice teeth yet die from something that could have been diagnosed years ago. My body is not in the greatest shape, I'm sort of running it to the ground. I won't regret dying early. You live your life and that's the way it is.

Now that I have a local dentist and optometrist and I'm thinking of getting a family doctor, it'd be shame to move away. Not that I'd have to come back more than a few times a year for checkups and such. Or I could start again, the new doctors could get my records from my old doctors. But there is this brief but shared history now and I wouldn't want to end it.

Writing of doctors, I was watching ER. Carter is my favorite character and it's too bad he's going nuts. It was also a touching end for Nurse Hathaway, who finally ended up with Dr Ross. Kind of sudden though, since the hints that she was leaving were rather subtle. If not for all of the entertainment news shows, I wouldn't have known.