Crowning

Well, one of the most stressful thing in life for me is to visit the dentist. But instead of suffering any worse consequences, I decided to pluck up some courage to do my half-yearly check, albeit after much procrastination.

So I braved the thunderstorm and went for my check up last Sat. I would have chickened out but I have already postponed the appointment 3 times. It makes me nervous just thinking about the visit.

Within minutes of sitting on the dental chair, Dr Lim quickly determined that I have a hairline crack across my two left upper molars. According to her, there are 2 reasons for the hairline crack. Firstly, I already have a big filling in those teeth. And secondly, there's not enough calcium going to the teeth. It's normal that ladies loose more calcium as we age.

Dr Lim advised that it may crack someday and I would have to pull them out! So the proposed solution is to do a crown which will cost me S$700 and 2 more visits. I conceded as I had a horrible experience pulling out a upper right premolar that cost me lots of money, pain, tears and blood!

I had to make sure that I time the visits well as I will be travelling end of the month, and the treatment needs to be completed before the travel. So I visited her today, and the first thing she had to do was the long needle injection to numb the gums. I was begging her not to give the injection, but she said "Don't worry, I will help you along". I think those words did some comfort, though it may sound like something she would routinely say. She then told me to take a deep breath and gently poked the gums with the needle. The deep breath helped! She did numerouos impressions of my teeth and I could feel substantial amount of bleeding during the drilling to remove the old fillings.

Fortunately it was over in less than half an hour. And I was told that there will be no injection the next time round. Yeah! And coward me survived another round of treatment! Thank God!

Now, I need to deal with the pain when the numbness goes off...

Chiropractor Visit – Fri 23 Mar 07

I had a pretty nasty neck/back pain since 2 days back and had to visit the Chiropractor on Friday after work.

Had made a call to the one recommended by Wendy but the appointment was full. I decided to call Rev Ho’s son at the Health Club and rushed down to Ngee Ann City after work. It was raining and as usual was caught in the peak hour traffic but managed to get there – not too late.

It was my first visit to a Chiropractor. Luke has absolutely no recollection that we have met at VOP rehearsals. He introduced himself formally, started interviewing me on the symptoms and jotting them down diligently. How did I end up with a sprained neck/back? I have no idea! It could possibly be my sleeping posture and the way I position myself when using the Notebook at work and in bed. Sigh…

After a detailed explanation on how the bone and joints work while twisting and bending the plastic skeleton in the clinic, Luke sat me down on another chair and tested my reflexes with a small hammer. Then he pressed my head with his elbow, and told me to turn my neck left and then right. The pain ran down my upper back each time I turned to face left.

Next, he propped me on a special bench made for Chiropractic use. I lied face down, and he rubbed with strength certain nerve points on my back and neck to help release toxins. Then he operated the bench like a machine and there came all sorts of pumping action from the bench. I guess it was an interesting experience.

When we were done, he remarked that I looked familiar! Well, it finally clicked that I sing in the same choir as his parents. And he knew from the beginning of the interview that I am related to Sam who is also part of choir. Duh!

Anyway, his parting advice to me was to start using the Cold Pack for the next few days, and I have to get an x-ray on my neck after I return from my trip. And the damage came up to a warping $120! :(