• meet emma
  • emma's chronicles
    • The Olive Pickers - What's it all about?
    • It's Olive Picking Time
    • Inside the Roma Camp
    • At the Olive Processing Plant
    • Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
  • emma's blog
  • emma's gallery
  • emma's culinary adventures
    • What's cooking?
    • World of Recipes
    • Kitchen Whispers
  • Contact
  • Links

FIRST DO NO HARM...

1/11/2011

0 Comments

 
It’s been one of those days today! You know, when at the end of the day you wish you could start all over again MINUS the whatever that has been bugging you from the moment you opened your eyes.

Let me share...

I had developed a strange kind of toothache over the weekend which got so bad that I had to find an on-duty pharmacy on Sunday to get some heavy-artillery painkillers. Despite having a natural aversion toward “all that stuff” I needed to get the pain under control. As a one of our doctor-friends told us many years ago: although pain is a warning signal that something is wrong it also makes the body produce a lot of “bad” chemicals; so, if you can avoid it, do so! To cut a long story short: the medicine worked within fifteen minutes of ingestion and I was more or less pain-free until yesterday afternoon when I managed to squeeze in a “friends-only” appointment with our dear dentist here in Sofia.

Initial examinations revealed...NOTHING. No cavities, no tangible infection! The pain, which by then had returned, was surely not a figment of my imagination, so, what to do?

 A targeted intraoral X-ray to reveal what the bespectacled eyes could not detect seemed to be the right answer.  If I went to the lab right away I’d be able to get it done immediately. However, I’d had enough manipulation for the day, and we decided to schedule the appointment as top-of the agenda item for today, more precisely 9am this morning.

I managed to get through the evening and night without too much of a problem and after a particularly early start this morning walked out of the lab within less than a quarter of an hour following my arrival. No waiting queues... every patient’s idea of paradise! Back on my dentist’s chair I was faced with another oddity: the X-ray revealed... nothing! There were puzzled looks all over – was I imagining my pain? Did I perhaps suffer from the Phantom Pain Syndrome? I can assure you that this was most certainly not the case!

Dr Bee, as I affectionately call her, went into a brainstorming session with her husband, Professor Bee, who, over the years, has quietly assumed the role as Assistant Orthodontic Surgeon, despite having a series of degrees in construction engineering. They eventually agreed that the only way to find out what was causing my pain was by way of elimination, in other words, making sure what it could NOT be until there was only one answer left!  “We will have to check the vitality of Number Seven before we are sure that it is not Number Six that is causing the problem”, she told me with grave voice full of concern. I must have looked rather dumb, for she proceeded to pat me on the hand and continued “don’t worry, dear. We must do everything to save the tooth.” 

That’s why we love our Dr Bee – genuine concern for her patient’s wellbeing!  My facial expression must have been sufficiently wrought to prompt her into telling me that she had something special for the pain, something very natural and good. Her old Professor had told her all those years ago that it was the best thing to use against toothache.  The Magic Potion? Oil of cloves!  After treating me, which left me oh so heavenly pain-free, she proceeded to make a phone call. I just sat there, in The Hot Chair, staring out of the window into the misty grey winter sky, my attention caught by a pair of Blue Tits dancing and hopping from branch to branch in the leafless arms of the silvery birch tree that stood in the handkerchief-size bit of land between our block of flats and the neighbours’. Dr Bee’s voice started to fade into the background, along with Richard Clayderman’s gentle magic piano tunes, and I felt my eyelids become heavy...

“OK dear, I shall come with you!” The words pulled me back into reality with a jolt. I had briefly dozed off. Fancy falling asleep in your dentist’s chair... A first for me! I could go back to the hotel, have a rest and should return to her by 2pm. She would then take me to a colleague dentist, specialized in determining how much “vitality” –or life- was actually left in the suspected culprit-teeth.  The appointment was made for 2:30. It had been agreed by common consent that this would be the only way to distinguish the good ones from the bad ones; teeth I mean.

I did as I was told, returned to the hotel, had a much-welcomed break with my better half, who by the way finds it most upsetting when he sees me in pain, and then returned to Dr Bee for the next stage of the investigation. Another quick treatment with the good old Oil of Cloves to keep me smiling and off we went to catch a bus down to see Dr Magdalena.

At the end of the day it was all sorted out. The Professional Duo jointly established that the culprit (Number Six, by the way) sat sniggering under a brilliantly built crown, courtesy of Dr Bee back in 2005. Somehow, with age (how I hate that word!) the gums had started to recede slightly, thereby leaving sufficient room between gum and crown for the tiniest, tiniest pinhole to worm its way through the dentine into the pulp area, causing what’s known in the professional world as “pulpitis” – an inflammation of the tooth pulp or nerve, resulting in the waves of drumming pain that had caused so much misery during my weekend. I should not worry, it was felt that this was the reversible form of pulpitis and with a bit of luck I would be able to keep my crown after some careful treatment under Dr Bee’s butterfly fingers. By far the best news I’d had that day!

When we stepped back outside, into the misty winter afternoon, Dr Bee affectionately slipped her arm through mine and together we strolled to our bus stop, a few hundred meters down the road. We chatted, and I even managed a feeble attempt at cracking a joke – I could smile again! Dr Bee kept reassuring me that I was going to be ok and that she would save that tooth at any cost. She’d treat Number Six first with a paste ensuring the infection would subside and after 36 hours or so I should return. If I’d had only minimal pain, or better still, no pain at all until then, BINGO, she’d be able to get to the next stage of her plan: reverse the pulpitis, rebuild the inside of the crown by treating it with some special medicine that helps the tooth build up new dentine. Everything would then be sealed with a magic dental sealant, all the way from Japan... and I would be as good as new, well, nearly.

Was I happy with this? No need to embroider here... I’m delighted.

No invasive treatment, no additional pain, no additional cost ... and an outcome that I could only have hoped for:  teeth back into shipshape. 

And , pray tell me: where in the world to you get taken by your  dentist to see another dentist in order to make sure you only receive the very best of care...?

First: Do no harm!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Greetings,
    I'm Emma, better known as Emm among those who know me well enough. I am a Daughter of Mother Earth, and in my little family we are all blessed with what I call "The Globetrotter Gene". We have spent more than three decades roaming the planet until a few years ago we decided to set up camp in the Balkans, and since then we call home where we put our feet under a table in either Greece or her northern neighbour, Bulgaria. 
    I welcome you to Emma's Blog - it was created with a view to sharing happenings and thoughts related to our journey through life. I thank you for stopping by and hope you are enjoying the ride ... Feel free to share the experience!...
    Emm

    Picture
    . . .Welcome to Emma's World. . .

    Archives

    May 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010

    Categories

    All
    1 March
    Alternative Energy
    Asprovalta
    Austerity Plan
    Baba Marta
    Bakaliaros Skordalia
    Bbc News
    Bees
    Believing In Yourself
    Bio Fuels
    Birthday Surprise
    Bulgaria
    Catamaran
    Child Abuse
    Child Sex Trade
    Child Slavery
    Chocolate Cake
    Civil Unrest
    Civil War
    Clean-up After Riots
    Cnn Freedom Project
    Community Support
    Congressional Medal Of Honour
    Control Your Finances
    Copycat Criminal Activity
    Corinth Canal
    Crop Pollination
    Culture
    Dealing With Adversity
    Desalination Facilities
    Elpida Resort
    Elpida Resort & Spa
    Emmanouil Papas
    Environment
    Flisvos Marina
    Folklore
    Galanolefki
    Great Britain
    Greece
    Greek Bail-out
    Greek History
    Greek Isles
    Greek Spa Resort
    Green Energy
    Handling Money
    Harry Truman
    Health Benefits Of Honey
    Holidays
    Honey
    Hotel In Greece
    Human Trafficking
    Independence Missouri Truman Home
    Ive Learned94e04fb1d4
    Learning
    London
    Looting
    Love
    Love In
    Malamatina
    Marinas
    Martenitsa
    Moral Integrity
    Mozart's Concerto 21 In C Major
    National Holiday
    Office Of The President Of The Usa
    Orthodox Church
    Overcoming Adversity
    Parades
    Personal Finances
    Personal Responsibility
    Political Chaos
    Pool Pleasures
    Poverty
    Power Of Social Media
    Quotes About Life
    Relaxing Holidays
    Retsina
    Riots
    Robby's Story
    Sachertorte
    Sailing
    Saranta Palikari
    School Of Life
    Serres Acropolis
    Serres Greece
    Solar Energy
    Solarwave
    Soup Kitchens
    Spa Treatment
    Spring
    Suicide
    Surprise
    Surprises
    The Prodigy
    Thessaloniki
    Tottenham Shooting
    Traditions
    Travel
    Travelling
    Us Congress
    Us Politics
    Vegan
    Vienna
    Violence
    Women And Money
    Yachting

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.