CLAMP Campus Adventures

After all the problems (Story 1, Story 2) I had earlier this year at Gentle Dental, you may (or not) recall I made an appointment with a local dentist in Winthrop, Dr. Brooks. The appointment I scheduled back in January was this past Monday and I can’t tell you how happy I am with this new dentist!

My appointment was later in the evening, taking advantage of the practice’s late Monday hours. I ate dinner prior to the appointment and brushed my teeth. I then drove the 5 minutes into Winthrop Center to the appointment. I promptly found parking and walked in.

I gave my name to the receptionist and expected to have forms to fill out while I waited, but nothing, so I found a not too old Newsweek, turned on my MP3 player to Mozart (Classical music best relaxes me for dentist appointments), and waited. I had brought all my records from Gentle Dental as they had mailed it them to me.

After about 10 minutes, I was called in by Ellen, the hygienist who I had previously spoken to on the phone when I made the original appointment. I settled in and warned her about how I need to listen to the music and why.

The first thing she did was check my mouth for cancer, something I’ve never had a dentist do before. Then we got into the scraping. Yuck. I hate that. My teeth feel amazing after though. So clean. I got a demonstration on how to floss because I apparently have gingivitis.

The dentist came in after my cleaning was done. He’s the younger Dr. Brooks. The elder Dr. Brooks apparently only comes in a few days a week (mostly retired). He was up front and told me the fillings I didn’t have done will need to be done (surprise). The ‘overhang’ was actually a small chip out of the tooth which Dr. Brooks will also fix when he fixes the bad filling. It’s not a new filling, it’s a fix of an old one, actually.

The full x-rays (not just bite wings) I had from Gentle Dental were basically crap. He couldn’t read them, so when I go back in 6 months, they’ll take new ones.

My filling appointment is set for 7:30 pm, July 24. I’ll be able to eat dinner prior to going, which is good because I won’t be able to after! My next cleaning with the X-rays is on January 15 at 6:30 pm, so I’ll go straight from work. Yay for a good dentist!