Oh My Aching Teeth

I cannot complain enough about the bad dental work done by dentists in New York. So I picked a dentist who happened to be from California figuring that would be the safer route to take.

My story begins way back in July 2008. I went to the dentist and he told me that I needed a filling in my top back molar. It just so happened that the tooth directly below it had an old filling that needed replacing as well. I agreed to let him do the work.

So he drilled out the old filling and discovered that there was decay underneath it. So he drilled some more and kept drilling, then the most uncomfortable pain began to well up inside that tooth. He gave me some topical anesthesia, waited a couple minutes and began again. It helped but it was still uncomfortable.

When he was all done he told me that the tooth was very thin and would be better off if I let him put a crown on it. I agreed that I would rather not have the tooth break on me. So he ground down the tooth, filled it up and put on a temporary crown as well as filling the top tooth.

Three weeks later I went back to get the permanent crown and I told him that the tooth was still giving me pain when I bit down. He said, "Oh the tooth was traumatized, it will just take a couple weeks to get back to normal," and he put on the permanent crown.

A few weeks later I called up and said, "it still hurts." He said, "I'll adjust the bite." He drilled the filling and crown to get a better bite and said, "see if that's better, give it a couple weeks and let me know."

A few weeks later... "Still hurts." Dr., "Let me adjust it".

A few weeks later... "Still hurts." Dr., "Hmm... I guess I'll take off the crown and put in a pain reliever filling." Come back in a few weeks and we'll put a new crown on.

A few weeks later... "Still hurts." Dr., "Let me adjust that bite again."

A few weeks later... "Still hurts." Dr., "I think you need a root canal."

So in January, 6 months after the initial visit I got a root canal. Everything seemed to be fine after that, no more pain and I could chew on the left side of my mouth again.

Two weeks later I got a new permanent crown put on. At this point I must admit that the dentist has been great in dealing with the problem and not charging me anything extra, he even refilled the top tooth because it was still sensitive to cold.

But... a few weeks later, "it feels weird, sort of hurts." Dr., "let me adjust the bite."

A couple weeks later, "still hurts a little." Dr., "let me adjust the bite." The bite felt good, like it was supposed to, so I thought.

Meanwhile we moved to Maryland in May. A couple months later the "permanent" crown came off, something it shouldn't do.

I have to find a dentist in Maryland to put it back on. Dr. in Maryland, "this guy really didn't know what he was doing. I'll glue it on and adjust the bite some more."

Two months later with sinus pain, "Wow, my tooth hurts." Take some decongestant and ibuprofen and a few days later all is well.

Two months later, "my tooth really hurts!" It feels like there is something stuck between the two teeth keeping me from biting down all the way and now both teeth hurt, not just the top one. Decongestant and ibuprophen help to a point but it's a temporary fix.

So here I sit two weeks later and 15 months after the initial dental visit and the same two teeth are giving me pain. Now I will go, yet again, for an adjustment. If this doesn't fix it maybe I'll just have them pull the tooth!!

You have to admit that it's pretty ridiculous for a tooth that doesn't have any roots to be giving me pain. But it's not the roots, it's sore all around the outside of the tooth, not the middle, like it's slowly being pulled out of my jaw.

All I can say is if I need a new crown I'm going to have them send the bill to the old dentist in New York. Even though he was a nice guy and I liked him a lot, he wasn't a very good dentist.

Maryland, the New Jersey of DC

Maryland is to Washington, DC as New Jersey is to New York.

Not just that they are in proximity, more of a difference in the way of life and the people who live there.

I should qualify that statement, I've lived in both New York and New Jersey, therefore I am entitled to have an opinion on which is better.

Maryland is too close in proximity to it's northern neighbors for it's own good. There are too many similarities in government and attitudes between New Jersey and Maryland that one would hope. Not only that, there is an attitude of those who live and work in Washington that somehow Maryland is inferior to DC and Virginia.

Don't get me wrong there are some really really nice parts of Maryland and some very old and historically significant neighborhoods just outside the District. Yet when you're in Maryland there is a different feel to the atmosphere, a more "in your face" attitude and an all around disrespect for others that is less prevalent across the Potomac.

You find the same thing when you cross the Hudson from New York to New Jersey. While they are close in proximity there is a harshness about northern New Jersey that is unequaled in its neighbors to the east. Again, just like Maryland, New Jersey has some really nice neighborhoods and some very wealthy people, but the atmosphere there is also "in your face" and "I'll break your knee-caps."

Hence I will always in my mind associate the relationship of Maryland and Virginia to that of New York and New Jersey.

The Movers

Although we've done our fair share of moving we've only used movers twice in the past. When you hire movers there is a lot to think about, how much should you pay, do you get the extra protection coverage, etc. Both times we've used movers it was paid for by my company and we didn't get to choose, it was Allied.

They did such a good job packing us up and replacing the TV stand they broke that it was an easy decision to go with them for a third time around. This time I had to see the price though, and it was more to move us to Maryland than it cost the company to move us from Seattle to New York. I'm guessing that the company has some sort of discount program with Allied that I won't be able to use this time.

So we will foot the bill out of my signing bonus and cover any of the differences ourselves. The good news is that we won't need to worry about packing the apartment we're letting them take care of that. It's the least I could do for my wife after she takes care of the baby while I'm at work everyday.

Now all we need is for our brand new apartment to be ready on time. We are scheduled to move in May 8 but they won't guarantee anything and just say that it depends on the county inspections.

Cross your fingers for us.

Maryland, here we come!!

We've been in New York for slightly less than 2 years, of course this was our second time around in the area, but I am glad to say that I've taken a job in Washington, DC and we will be leaving in about 2 1/2 weeks.

While New York has its good points it's hard not to become calloused by the difficult circumstances of working and living in a place with so many people. It's probably one of the only cities in the world where you can be surrounded by millions of people and feel totally alone. With all of the panhandlers and people handing out fliers on the street it becomes easy to ignore everything going on, you become cynical and hardened.

I made a trip to Seattle last fall and my coworker and I couldn't figure out why people were honking at us, we were just crossing the street just like we would in Manhattan, on the "Don't Walk" signal. The drivers were freaked out that we would even attempt to cross while they were making left turns in front of us. It's a daily occurrence that a car gets within 2 inches from my foot as I cross 5th avenue, and I think nothing of stepping out in front of a car as it stops for the red light.

I'm looking forward to leaving all of this behind and beginning a new job in a new city with my wife and baby.