Dentists & End of Month

I’ve been living the last two weeks with hot and cold sensitivity on the upper left side of my mouth. It’s been getting worse and worse. The last week, I’ve managed to lose 2 lbs. because I don’t want to eat due to pain. It’s my own fault. There’s one thing I HATE more than anything else--- going to the dentist’s office! It’s been 2 years since I went last and that was for an awfully painful root canal. I also didn’t care for the dentist that I went to; talk about a cold fish!

I decided I needed to go somewhere because it wasn’t getting any better. But I wanted to go to another dentist; preferably a nice person with some personality. A girlfriend recommended her dentist and we went by her dentist’s office one day. She introduced me to a gal in the office and the next thing I knew I set an appointment. I figured give it a try and everyone in the office I met seemed nice. Besides, I really did need to get my tooth fixed. It’s not an ideal way to lose weight, and I was praying to God that it wasn’t another root canal.


I like the new dentist. He walked in, shook my hand, and talked to me person to person. I felt like he wanted to get to know me before he started in with the dentistry stuff. That was nice for a change. When we got around to the dental talk he managed to be encouraging and positive. The last “cold fish” had made me feel about 2 inches high for not taking better care of my teeth. I also discovered that my body may metabolize Novocain at a faster rate because I had experience episodes in the dentist office where there was pain when there shouldn’t have been. The new dentist said we could try something else and that he had a policy of a no pain approach.


It ended up being a very deep cavity that was causing the problem. Oh BOY, did I luck out! It was pleasantly a no pain session. I didn’t even feel the needle. He was so smooth and gentle. Now for the next step and the next fix on my teeth is a crown. Tomorrow morning, I get to go in for that to be fixed. I’ve just started to get cold sensitivity in that area (the lower left) which the dentist says we need to catch before it becomes a problem. Meanwhile, I can see the dollar signs draining out of my pocket book; another reason I’ve never been fond of the dentist. But if I pay my bill that day his office offers to give a 20% discount. So, I guess it could be worse.

End of Month…

Weight- 8 more lbs. to go thanks to the dental situation.

100 SLC Porches- I’m up to 80 out of the 100. I’m a couple of porch paintings behind. But I’m hoping with the cycling season almost to an end that I’ll be able to catch up a bit.  The photo of the #80 porch painting is above.  It's a watercolor on 11" x 11" Paper.  To view the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches Art Project, click here.

Uncluttering my life- The goodwill is still growing and I’m thinking I need to take that pile to the actual goodwill. But that’s just a thought so far.

Stats for the month-

16.5 miles running

358 miles cycling

1 hour 21 minutes on the elliptical

Read 4 books this month (up to 48 for the year.)