I just got back from a two hour session at the dentist. I got to experience the joy that is a “deep cleaning.” Good times. I will say this, though- my teeth look and feel much better, but I still hate going to the dentist.
Also, as I was lying there looking at the ceiling having water sprayed in my face every few seconds, it occurred to me that every single doctor I go to is female- my general practitioner, my dentist, my eye doctor, etc. When I was a kid, every doctor was male, and I don’t even think there were any female doctors in those professions where I lived. Just weird how that has changed over a few decades.
*** Update ***
We have our first Judas Iscariot reference in relation to Specter, and the winner is Red State. I honestly have no idea what these guys are so upset about. Am I going to have to go through their archives and dig up all the times they wanted to throw Specter out of the Republican party? Did I just imagine all the whinging posts about Specter and the Judiciary Committee in 2004ish? Congratulations, guys. You got your wish. He isn’t a Republican.
Apparently, purity tastes like wingnut tears.
*** Update #2 ***
Howard Fineman looks much better with grey hair.
arguingwithsignposts
Better than the joy that is “root canal.” And my dentist is female too. FWIW, if health care reform does nothing more than bring dental “insurance” under the umbrella of health insurance, I might consider it a win.
smiley
Just wait until they’re all significantly younger than you also. And the president too. Just weird.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
I actually kind of love having my teeth cleaned, as long as the hygienist is reasonably adept and doesn’t give herself bonus points for stabbing my gums. There’s just something oddly satisfying about the metal picks pulling at my teeth.
Dreggas
@arguingwithsignposts:
Agreed, dental work is expensive as hell and to have only so much coverage per year (normally under most dental plans 1000 dollars max) is a hassle especially if you need a lot of work done for whatever reason.
I had to choose between living with pain and getting work done once, maybe twice a year to restore all of my upper teeth or get them all yanked and go for false ones because I only had 1000 of coverage a year and one crown was 800 meaning that I was paying 400 out of pocket (only 50% coverage of crowns) and maybe getting 2 crowns a year.
Even worse that this runs in my family (father’s side, despite keeping teeth clean etc. tended to have weak upper teeth that fell apart in their mid-20’s).
Dreggas
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse:
I just had a full body shiver at the mental image of those metal picks and the feel of them…and not in a good way…thanks a lot :P
JenJen
If one were a subscriber to the Joe Scarborough/Pat Buchanan School Of Political Thought, what you just suffered at the hand of a chick dentist was no different from waterboarding, having water sprayed in your face and all.
Just sayin’. I’m one of those people that loathes dentist visits, so two hours in that chair sure looks like voluntary torture from where I’m typing.
Screamin' Demon
Root canals don’t have to suck. If you want to experience a virtually pain-free root canal, there’s a female endodontist in Kennewick, Washington, to whom I can refer you. It hurt less than a routine cavity fill. She’s good.
Tim C.
It’s not a surprise to me that so many women are going into medicine. I know I’m engaging in a cultural stereotype but I think there is some truth to the idea of women as being more inclined to be more nurturing and having more empathy than men. Of course this isn’t any kind of hard and fast rule and could be the result of social expectations as much as genetic predisposition.
But to get back to my point, now that the lid has been taken off of women academically, We’ve now had a few decades of talented, industrious, intelligent women working their way through the medical professions. In fact, last I looked, they outnumber the men in medical schools! So yeah, the idea of the medical profession tilting more towards women as the years go by seems a natural.
I say this a someone who has a sister in her 4th year of surgical residency, we’ve talked about this at length in the past. That of course means I could still be talking out of my rear….
Bubblegum Tate
I have to get that every time I go in for a cleaning. I think it’s a scam, possibly a scamola.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
@Dreggas: Is it safe? IS IT SAFE?
(No, that scene freaks me out so much I can’t link to it. You’re welcome.)
smiley
@smiley: And added: Just wait until you have that conversation with your female general practitioner about that little blue pill.
Elroy's Lunch
Synchronicity. I just got back from a new crown install by my dentist. Also a female dentist and has to be the best I have ever gone to. No unnecessary procedures or expenses.
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse (Jeez, hope I get it right this time…)
I’m more of a high-pressure thingy afficiando of teeth cleaning tools. Those picks give me the willies.
Cat Lady
Apropos of things changing and how it happens – I’ve wanted to mention this since the HGTV post about a week ago or so, about home decorating shows. Yes, they should follow up on the home flippers and renovators since the real estate bubble collapse, but watching a few shows back to back a few days ago, there was a mixed race lesbian couple doing over their kitchen; a mixed race married straight couple doing over their backyard; two gay guys, one of whom had three daughters, staging their house for sale so they could all move to a new house together; and an unmarried couple who were looking to move into a house before the wedding, because the apartment they co-inhabited out of wedlock was too small.
The point being, this is how things change. These personal arrangements were obvious but went unmentioned, because the focus is on the new appliances. HGTV shows you your neighbors, and they’re pretty much just like you.
CaseyL
The dentist I went to since college (30 years; dear god, shoot me) retired and sold his practice a year or so ago, to a woman. Even before he retired, he was the token male in the place; now there are no males at all.
It was interesting seeing her take over. So much equipment has been updated – now they have that nifty computer program that shows all your teeth in cartoon form, which I love to look at. Also, the hygienists and front desk persons all roll around on ergonomically-correct exercise ball chairs. (They all love it – except one, who kept falling off of hers, said “Screw this” and got an old-fashioned dental stool.)
They still give me the nitrous for my cleanings, though. Traditions are important :)
Indylib
Great song to support Wounded Warriors Project.
Warning – country music. Nice proof that not all country music artists are wingnut wackos.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
@Elroy’s Lunch: (That little curly arrow thing makes getting someone’s complicated name right a no-brainer.)
ARGHH!! Those high pressure things and the sonic tools actually bother me a lot, probably because I have some dental erosion. I beg my dental hygienists to go old school whenever possible.
Comrade Dread
Last time I went to a dentist, he did something he called a gum measurement, which, near as I can tell involved a special form of torture since banned by the Obama administration in which a metal spike is rammed between the teeth and the gums down as far as it can go without anesthesia.
I think my dentist went to the same dental school as the one in Marathon Man. Soulless bastard.
Indylib
Jeez, John, am I getting moderated because I linked to a country music video?
Laura W Darling
You have no room to talk about dental “Good Times” until you acquire porcelain veneers. Ten of them. On top. Better Times. Best Times!
As everyone knows, the best thing for a sore mouth is a frozen dairy dessert. I can safely say that you don’t need to waste calories on the B&J’s Choco Macadamia. The ice cream is malt-like (malted milk ball-like), which is OK, but the choco covered nuts suck. Hardly recognizable as nuts, let alone macadamia. And I am all about nuts in and on ice cream. Until and unless I can procure the ever-elusive Coconut Seven Layer Bar and the Orange and Cream, I will be rebounding back to past loves.
Faithfully waiting in the wings…
JK
Say what you like about Arlen Specter, but I have to give props to anyone who shows respect for the rule of Scottish law.
binzinerator
@smiley:
Pill, schmill. Just wait until she does that prostate exam on you.
Of course I suspect there’s prolly someone here who might actually consider that a plus not a negative… This is the B-J commentariat, after all.
CapMidnight
I had a toothache in June, and couldn’t find a dentist before the pain went away, and I thought no more of it. It’s the most likely cause of a bloodstream infection that showed up in October, misdiagnosed as flu for several months. The bacteria thought my mitral valve a tasty snack, so I’m here, reading Balloon Juice, recovering from open-heart surgery. I feel like Bob “Have your pets spayed” Barker, but I tell everyone to get their teeth cleaned.
binzinerator
@Indylib:
As you damn well should.
Unless it was Patsy, Waylon, or Johnny Cash of course.
JenJen
@CapMidnight: Scary, and duly noted, dead serious here.
canuckistani
Since I broke a tooth a few weeks ago, frozen desserts are a-g-o-n-y. I’m getting it fixed in 2 weeks, but ice cream will never be a pure joy to me again.
And curse Mary for mentioning those metal toothpicks. Like fingernails on a blackboard INSIDE YOUR SKULL.
Gus
Was there ever any question?
aimai
JK @ I thought we weren’t supposed to “look” to foreign legal codes? I take it that the “not proven” vote was a sign that Specter, even then, belonged to the evilist of evil social (hicup) ist cabals.
aimai
sgwhiteinfla
DeMint continued: “I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than to have 60 that don’t have a set of beliefs.”
I am pretty sure that Jim DeMint and his ilk aren’t going to rest until he makes his words into a reality. LOL
Mr. Stuck
I think my morbid dread of dentists is why I take 20 minutes to brush my teeth. For me it started with braces at an early age. Once, and sometimes twice a week, for 3 years I went in for adjustments. A procedure that could have been included in the Bybee Memo, especially in the 60’s, when I think they used chicken wire and crescent wrenches in practice of the dental arts.
r€nato
In this column, Specter is quoted summarizing the damage Pat Toomey has done to the GOP via Club for Growth and his own primary candidacy against Specter:
3 House seats, 2 Senate seats including Specter’s, a Senate majority in 2006 thanks to picking up Chafee’s seat, and 34 federal judges which Obama got to pick instead of Bush thanks to that same majority.
Where can I send a thank you card to Toomey?
arguingwithsignposts
Just thought about this, but why isn’t anyone from the marginalized Wingnut faction making the argument that the Specter switch was a ploy to get the MSM to leave their focus on swine flu? Is that on Democratic Underground and I missed it? Because damn, this has sucked up all the MSM oxygen today, despite the possible pandemic.
r€nato
@sgwhiteinfla:
If there are any other Senate seats DeMint would like the Dems to have, he should tell us. We’ll take ’em. I heard somewhere that they’re ‘fucking valuable’.
binzinerator
@binzinerator:
No doubt it will be similar to what a woman deals with when she has a pelvic exam done by a male OB/GYN. No wonder my wife always tries to get a woman doctor.
JL
I keep posting the same damn comment, Specter today roiled against the social repubs for defeating moderate repubs and said that if Chafee were in place, he would have been able to push through the rest of Bush’s judicial picks and they would have gotten want they wanted. Excuse me Specter doesn’t care about womens’ rights, he only cares about his own future. I think he will be useful for about a year.
Now it was suggested that I have deep cleaning for all four quandrants and I said fine because I like my teeth. I did have one request which was that I go in one time. All four took less than two hours (one hour and a half) and still cost $1400. GEE Maybe teeth aren’t that important.
JK
Richard Lugar Supports Dawn Johnsen For OLC Head
While Arlen Specter said he was not in favor of Johnsen, he has never said he would vote against cloture. With Lugar’s open support of Johnsen, a GOP filibuster seems virtually impossible now.
h/t TalkLeft
JK
@aimai: I was impressed by the fact that Specter possessed a rudimentary understanding of Scottish law.
JL
@sgwhiteinfla: DeMint also said that Toomey was mainstream. Mainstream for those who support embryos and fetuses maybe, but not for the rest of us who actual support children.
r€nato
you really should, that would be fun to read.
binzinerator
@r€nato:
Where can I send a thank you card to Toomey?
‘I heart Pat Toomey!’ bumperstickers please!
Laura W Darling
I had the exact same thought tonight at 5EST.
Compared to that long-haired ginger cat he had on his head a few months ago?
Horrifying.
smiley
@binzinerator: That hasn’t happened to me yet but I don’t think I would have a problem with it. I used to be on the faculty of a pretty good medical school and, from my experience, I would have more confidence in the female students than the, seemingly entitled, male students.
kay
@Laura W Darling:
I supported him during that difficult transition period.
We’re through it now, and you’re on board. Thanks so much.
geg6
I have inherited my dad’s genetic curse of bad teeth no matter what I do. Damn those Brit bad teeth that he got from both sides of his family. I have had more work than anyone ever should. And the only females I ever get are the techs. All my dental doctors (yes, plural) are men. But they’re good. Root canals aren’t painful at all if done right. Try some endodontic surgery. Twice. And having to have my jaw broken to get my wisdom teeth out. And those are the highlights. I could go on and on about fillings and crowns and…well, you get the picture. I don’t want to hear any whining about dental work from anyone. People cringe when I get going on my adventures in dentistry. That said, the work could have been much more painful but the docs are skillful and have senses of humor that I appreciate. I can deal with anything if I can laugh. I’d probably do pretty well in SERE torture training though.
Marmot
This is a little off-topic. John, you just did something that doctors often complain about the public doing, when said doctors are kicking at the dirt, cursing their lots in life.
(I work for doctors, and I don’t often believe their view of normal people, and I didn’t think people actually did this.)
You classified a dentist, an eye doctor (ophthalmologist or optometrist?) and a GP as “doctors.” Some physicians, including maybe your GP, think that this blurring of the lines in the public mind gives non-MDs too much credibility, while it waters down physicians’ influence on public issues, such as the particulars of healthcare reform.
Anyway, just thought it curious. I’m still not convinced there’s any blurring going on.
Rick Taylor
It’s real fun hearing Michael Steele go on about Specter being unprincipled.He gave a wink whenever anyone asked if there would be consequences to those Republican’s who supported the stimulus bill, the Washington independent said
and now they’re surprised and upset he’s leaving. This is politics. Do any of you Republican’s know how to play this game?
eemom
@sgwhiteinfla:
and you have to give Demint some credit for the bold defiance of that pronouncement. I mean, it’s not like “I didn’t want a majority ANYWAY” is a pathetic attempt at spin or anything.
Laura W Darling
@kay: Well, you know, kay, I did extensive google-based research into Howard’s Days of Dye Transition to learn that he’d been trying to get back to his grey garden for a long time. I really only brought it up in public one night when the ginger cat’s bright orange tail was sweeping down across his forehead, covering his entire left eye.
It’s probably that he was running late and the MSNBC hair person didn’t have time to bobby pin it up and under for him.
No matter. He looks fabulous now.
kay
@Laura W Darling:
He has kind, twinkly eyes. Like Santa!
Truly, though, he looks puffy. All the bones in his face have gone missing. I’m a little concerned.
That One - Cain
My wife is a dentist and the whole office there is female. There are no males in the office. Which makes things kinda wierd in terms of office politics ( according to my wife).
cain
JK
The NY Yankees take a few steps back from their off the wall, insane ticket prices
The full season Legends Suite and Ticket Licenses in the first row in Sections 15A, 15B, 24B and 25 will be reduced from $2,500 to $1,250 per regular season game. All fans who have purchased such full season Suite and Ticket Licenses will receive, at their choice, a refund or a credit.
Yankees Drop Season Ticket Prices, http://www.wcbs880.com/Yankees-Drop-Season-Ticket-Prices/4288768
JK
@Laura W Darling: Remember the Chris Matthews makeover from last year?
Chris Matthews Debuts New Hairdo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/08/chris-matthews-debuts-new_n_100894.html
AhabTRuler
Not every good doctor I have had has been female, only all save one.
Maybe its the nurturing thing, like its easier to find a nurturing female doctor because there are more of them.
Because I have had some lousy female doctors, too.
Ruemara
@CapMidnight:
Oh no! Actor Andy Hallet, “Lorne” from Angel, died from heart disease gained exactly the same way. Take good care of your self and everyone get their teeth cleaned.
@ Laura W. I too did not feel the ChocoMacadamia love from the new B&J’s flavour. Kinda disappointed. Still finished it tho.
Am I the only one who finds a tooth cleaning to be a meditative, restful experience then? Lucky me, I have bitching awesome, union fought for, health insurance with nearly 2k for just dental alone.
JenJen
@r€nato: Seconded, heartily!
Litlebritdifrnt
@Elroy’s Lunch:
(disclaimer haven’t read all the comments yet)
I had a wisdom tooth pulled by a female dentist once, it was a thing of beauty to see her work. She couldn’t rely on the brute strength that male dentists did (ie knee on the chest and just pull) she relied on the technique and it was a thing to see (in the mirror above my head), I got a dry socket afterwards but that was my fault because I completely ignored the “no drinks or smoking for at least an hour!” admonition. But she was a wonderful dentist.
Laura W Darling
@kay: Oh kay. Just when I’d finally let it all go.
Now I feel compelled to rush off to google: “Where have Howard Fineman’s facial bones gone?”
You really shouldn’t egg me on, you know.
geg6
My staff assisstant’s son called from the main campus of the university for which I work and where he’s a student. He’s been sick with a headache, sore throat, and congestion since late Sunday night. He has a temp, too. He finally called his mom when he threw up today. We took turns frantically exhorting him to go to the ER IMMEDIATELY. He finally went and has been admitted for observation and is in isolation. He’s being tested for swine flu but they won’t know for 12 hours. I hope he’s okay.
Dennis-SGMM
I was dead-threaded so I’m reposting here:
More Republican Reaction to Specter’s defection:
“No hard feelings. In fact, I’ve invited Senator Specter to go hunting with me.”
-Dick Cheney
“Arlene who? Well it’s just like the Democrat party to hire more inspectors to pry into the lives of Real Americans.”
-Sarah Palin
“During hurricane Katrina, while I was rescuing people from a lifeboat that I whittled out of a telephone pole…”
-Bobby Jindal
“Ever notice the way Specter’s eyes kind of tilt up at the corners? I’d say he’s a North Korean sleeper agent.”
-Rick Perry
Litlebritdifrnt
@Cat Lady:
There was a couple on this weekend on “My house is worth what?” that pissed me off so bad I wanted to throw a brick through the TV. They had a beautiful house on the water in Miami, fantastic views, four bedrooms, four baths, HUGE house, pool and patio, couple with no children, who said they wanted to sell cause “the house wasn’t big enough for them” WTF?
arguingwithsignposts
@Screamin’ Demon:
thanks for the tip, but that’s about a 16-hour drive for me. FWIW, I could have had it more painless if I’d agreed to the $50/hr. laughing gas charge that would NOT go on my ins.
JL
@geg6: me too
Laura W Darling
@Ruemara:
Oh! In a startling display of self-discipline, I threw nearly HALF the pint in the trash this morning! I promised myself that if I did eat B&J’s, I could only eat the flavors that inspire me to follow my frozen dairy bliss. No settling for mediocre!
If I blow through the new ones and none inspire, I will be forced to go back to last year’s top models.
Cinammon Buns and Creme Brulee.
Of course, when it’s really hot out, Mint Chocolate Cookie is quite refreshing.
Dennis-SGMM
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Makes sense to me. Although there are only two asses in the house there are obviously four assholes.
geg6
Ah, JL! My partner in oral pain. We’ll now always have that special bond.
AhabTRuler
@geg6: It’s really good that you guys managed to convince him to go to ER.
My sister is about to graduate from NYU nursing next month (Yay her!), and she has hard time finding a job. Things may improve for here and get worse for the rest of us.
A more happy occasion is that Momo has reached six months of age.
Laura W Darling
@JK: Oh indeedy I do. I am sure the archives contain my accusations of “Apricot Head” or the like.
Christ. I color my hair! I have absolutely no self-awareness and do nothing but project my disowned material onto the reflective screens of innocent others.
I am clearly registered in the wrong party.
Litlebritdifrnt
@geg6:
With all due respect I have seen more toothless wonders in my 17 years in the US than I EVER saw in the UK (thanks to our terrific NHS dental system), I had outstanding dental treatment as a child, and it continued when I was in the WRNS. Brits having bad teeth is the same type of urban legend as Americans wearing shorts and carrying three cameras.
kmeyer57
Any chemist will tell you that “purification” results in a decrease of total mass. Even David Frum realized that “purifying” the party means shrinking it.
slag
@sgwhiteinfla: Odd that DeMint’s Freedom Tent has only room for 30: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/28/sanchez-demint/.
John Cole
@Marmot: If I call them Doctor when I greet them, as I do with all three I listed above, then I consider them a “doctor.”
Not sure why MD’s would get all worked up about it.
JK
@Dennis-SGMM:
Great Stuff
Time for Cheney to go Hunting / Jack Cafferty
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/cafferty.cheney/index.html
D-Chance.
I just got back from NINE hours of car shopping.
Lesseeee…
1. Liked the Neon I was driving (as did the deer who ate it).
2. OK with the Cobalt I’m renting (kinda cheap, wouldn’t buy).
3. Tested a Potiac G6 (not suited to my need, excellent cruiser though).
4. Tested a Nissan Versa (2008 model… with 51K miles???). Still, best suited for what I want.
5. Tested a Saturn Ion (heavy-feeling car; nice but just didn’t feel right).
6. Tested a Kia Rio (2008 model… only 10K miles). Sweet and basic, but maybe too small? The 30+ mpg avg is win.
7. Tested a Dodge Stratus (older model, slightly larger than the rest; but best comfort and the cheapest price).
Now, to narrow it down to two choices and do a final re-visit tomorrow before buying one…
Ranking right now… Kia and Dodge almost tied. Versa a solid third, although the dealership was fail to me.
Anyone with positive/negative experiences on any of the above?
geg6
Litlbritdifrnt: My grandparents came to the States in the 1870s. No NHS then and it is genetic. I am informed by my dentists that this is not an uncommon genetic condition among those of British stock. AhabTRuler: We’re awfully glad we convinced him, too. Even if it’s just your average flu or virus, he sounded too sick to go untreated.
Laura W Darling
@John Cole: Imagine the “work up” over Dr. Something Something, Ph.D.
Good times.
Litlebritdifrnt
Speaking of dental work, my crown fell out, it was my “canine” tooth. I went to the only dentist in town who would see me (after going to about half a dozen – sorry we are not accepting new patients), once they saw me they said “ooooooooh, we can’t just glue this back in, you need a new crown and in addition to that we will have to do x-rays to see what is going on with your other teeth” I was looking at a bill of approximately $1,500.00. I told them to stuff it. I now glue my crown in with Fixodent every morning because I am not going to be blackmailed by a dentist.
JL
@JL: Keep us informed about your son’s health. For some reason I’m thinking about that song in The Birdcage about we are family or something.
Surabaya Stew
Oddly enough, today was also a dentist day for my molars. Bad timing it was, considering that the head that holds them in place was laid off last week. (Even worse, the optional dental insurance plan was open for eligibly next month!) Lots of Architects are suffering here in New York, but my dentist reported only a small drop in business since I stopped by 6 months ago. Glad somebody is doing well aside from Arlen Specter…
John Cole
@Litlebritdifrnt: Don’t be silly. $1500.00 is a fair price for that work (my dentist charges right around that), and it really is not worth risking losing the tooth.
Speaking of crowns, I bit a molar in half in 1987 the first time I went through a windshield, and the dentist today said “Whoever did that crown knew what the hell they are doing. That thing looks like it was set last week.”
My old dentist was good one.
Litlebritdifrnt
@geg6:
I would disagree, it is not genetic, the Brits have as good a mouthfull of teeth as anyone. Your dentist is full of shit, and using that excuse to charge you a boatload of money for stuff due to “genetics”. See West Virginia and “Mountain Dew Mouth” for details, teeth are maintained by lifestyle, not by genetics.
smiley
@Marmot:
I see this shit all the time. One of my sisters asked me, “If you’re going to spend so much time in school, why don’t you become a real doctor.” Bullshit. I have a doctorate and I am Dr. smiley, dammit. As I stated earlier, PhD.’s serve on medical school faculties. When I was there, my MD colleagues called me Dr. smiley. I had influence over the success of MD students and PhD students. In my limited experience, with personal physicians and fellow faculty members, most MDs respect PhDs.
[/self-serving rant]
AhabTRuler
Hey, until we know more about the severity of this outbreak, it is better to be cautious.
I also really, really think Public Health is cool! Fighting the outbreak of disease is one of the best things that government can help accomplish.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
I’m doubtful of genetic hypotheses, too. I used to think I was cursed with French Canadian mouth, like my dad, especially as I was told by my childhood dentist that I had soft teeth like him. I had serious cavities in most of my baby molars (all extracted, not filled), plus one extraction of a permanent molar at age 17.
It turns out the difference was likely due to growing up with unfluoridated Montreal water, moving to Toronto at age 14, and finally achieving some decent mineralization after a couple of years of having my precious bodily fluids contaminated. I didn’t have another cavity for 14 years, which just needed a little drilling and filling, and my most recent cavity showed up after another 16 years.
dbrown
@CapMidnight: My God! Having a root cannel due to a similar condition (but I don’t think it has gotten into the bloodstream) you are the poster person for teeth cleaning. After bypass surgery I understand what you are going through. Hang in there and get the [email protected]$%& out of there as soon as possible – get up and walk as soon as they will let you!
AhabTRuler
And what about Herr Dr. Dr. h.c. Schveinflu? Does he get the respect he deserves?
Hypatia
My take on women beginning to dominate dentistry and the medical profession.
1. Women get socialized very early on to not think they should be all powerful. What do think patriarchy is for. When they go to medical school and start hearing the typical doc propaganda “Docs rule! Docs control life and death”, they don’t believe it. (Or many don’t. I have met female docs who are power-mad jerks but this is rare.) So by not appearing to be smitten with themselves, they end up being more appealing to patients.
2. The decreasing compensation levels for docs in primary care areas has pushed the men out. The women are less motivated by the possibility of big bucks and get real satisfaction from helping people.
3. Dentistry is perfect for women; it’s very detail oriented, almost fussy. Not the brutal hours often associated with a medical practice. You might even call it family friendly. Close the office on Friday.
Jon H
Anyone know a good dentist in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, or in Central Square or Harvard Square?
Cat Lady
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Yeah, some of the people are weird as hell. I would love to see one of those shows where the host would walk around and say rude things like WTF were you thinking when you did that? and so forth. Rude Pundit stuff – that would be hilarious.
Jon H
My take on women in the medical professions: they’ve been there since Florence Nightingale, but have spread out from nursing into myriad other fields.
Also – hands-on medical or dental careers might be more compatible with childraising than an academic research career.
smiley
@AhabTRuler: Please explain – in English.
geg6
Litlebritdifrnt: You may not believe it but it is truth that things like bone densities and soft enamel and tooth size and root systems can be and often are inherited traits. My father and both grandparents had the same problems as do the relatives I met in Cambridge and one in London. I have had stellar dental hygeine my entire life and I have had excellent insurance always. I will continue to believe my excellent dental professionals that this is not my fault even if Brits are sensitive about the subject. Perhaps it’s some wayward Spanish or German gene that both sides of my English half happened to have.
Origuy
I broke a front tooth last month. It had a crown on it and the break was too close to the gum to reattach a crown. A bridge would not work because the tooth next to it was also crowned. The only option was an implant. That’s going to run over $5000, with my insurance topping out at $1750.
They pulled the tooth and put a titanium socket in my upper jaw, surrounded by bone material. I’ve go to wear a plate for 5 months, which is more or less only cosmetic. It’s hard to eat with it in. Once the jaw grows back around the socket, they’ll put in a titanium abutment and build a tooth around that.
Oh, and my last two dentists and my oral surgeon are both female.
AhabTRuler
@smiley: There is, in Germany (and elsewhere I guess?) a series of degrees that will earn you the title of “Dr. Dr. h.c.,” making one, say, Herr Dr. Dr. h.c. Ruler, or, if you really like the sound of the fakey-germany word “schveinflu” (and I do!), Herr Dr. Dr. h.c. Schveinflu. The link to the Google search was merely to demonstrate that the title does appear on CV’s, for those that wondered.
‘Kay? ;-)
I suppose we could even make it “Herr Dr. Dr. h.c. von der Schveinflu” if we wanted to push to the edge of the envelope!
Mnemosyne
@Hypatia:
It’s a well-documented fact that as salaries go down in a profession, men move out and women move in. It also happens the other direction: when nursing salaries started to skyrocket, men started showing up in nursing school.
Krista
Heh…that reminds me of a friend of mine who taught university Physics, who upon meeting a German colleague, found out that the gentleman was to be referred to as “Herr Doctor Professor (name)”.
smiley
@AhabTRuler:
Thanks. Now I get it. MDs and PhDs, don’t usually like optometrists and chiropractors calling themselves doctor. Personally, I don’t think most people care.
LD50
Bullshit, I’ve read the Big Book of British Smiles.
Laura W Darling
Does anyone know when you register for Pogo Scrabble how you hook up with a specific player you want to play? I’ve just registered and have asked someone else to do same, but I ended up in a public room with a bunch of girls with tons of tokens rushing in to greet me. I’m not into that.
LilBrit? Rome?
Also, I’m on a Mac, and I see they warn that this may give me grief in the free rooms. Is this a ploy to get me to fork over $5.99 for the private
bathsrooms?AhabTRuler
And while they are bickering about titles, all the real work gets done by the nurses and grad students.
CapMidnight
dbrown at 83:
Hey, thanks. Eight weeks later (couple of returns to the hospital), I’m home healing quite well, getting my strength back. (Must be the informed and reasonable commentary here.)
I “saved” a $few hundred by not treating my toothache like a rusty nail thru the foot. Suddenly I owe the hospital $60,000 and counting. (S’ok: I’ll pay it off eventually. They’re the ones who should worry. Haw.)
Oh, and chest tubes hurt worse than wisdom-tooth extraction.
garyb50
Maybe I put my question in the wrong thread: “Has JC or other Balloon Juice posters ever done anything about Naomi Klein’s ‘Shock Doctrine?’ I did a search & couldn’t find anything but I may not know what I’m doing.”
Hello? Open Thread, right?
smiley
@AhabTRuler: Heh. Funny. You obviously don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Grad students and nurses, especially, were revered there. At least when I was on faculty. My wife was a nurse. She made decisions that the faculty later made reality and she was right – because they respected her. I know because I was there. So, you really don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.
AhabTRuler
@smiley: Lighten up, Francis!
someguy
80% of the new unemployment claims are men too, so employers are clearly hanging on to the more valuable employees, who happen, apparently disproportionately, to be female. This is also good news. Well, unless they are hanging on to the women because you only need to pay them 60 or 70 cents on the dollar compared to a comparable male worker. That wouldn’t be good.
someguy
That’s because most Americans are fat pigs compared to Europeans. Of course our teeth wear out – you can only cram so much sugary shit food down your gullet before they rot / get worn down.
iluvsummr
@Jon H:
My dentist for 7 years when I lived in Boston was Elliot Feldbau. He used to have a practice at the Brigham but they got kicked out of 75 Francis Street and moved to the Chestnut Hill BWH location. If you don’t mind taking a Partners shuttle to Chestnut Hill (he’s in the Hammond Pond Dental Group) I think he’s a really great dentist and person.
I love my current dentist, who happens to be a woman, but I’ve only been going to see her a year now and haven’t needed anything other than a cleaning.
demimondian
@Krista: Of course, my wife “insisted” on Doctor Professor Frau Doctor Professor Demimondian.
AnneLaurie
The downside is that once women predominate, the “prestige” and therefore the payscale of the whole occupation has historically dropped (sometimes precipitously). Clerks, teachers, factory workers, accountants, data processors, veterinarians — if us “girls” can do it, we’ll have to do it for less money, because how hard can it be after all if it’s chick work? I’d like to believe we’ve gotten past the worst of this particular form of sexism, but I’ve dealt with a few female doctors & medical technicians who’ve emigrated from Eastern Europe who complain that the value of their medical degrees was inversely correlated with the percentage of women in any given speciality. Of course there’s an argument to be made that we overpay our mostly-male medical “gods” in high-prestige fields like surgery at the cost of underpaying general practicioners, but why do these books always get balanced at the expense of the non-y-chromosome-carrying gender?
CapMidnight, I hope you continue to recover swiftly, and second (or third or fourth) your recommendation that dental health is IMPORTANT and so is professional tooth care!
Litlebritdifrnt: Uh, no, despite ‘mountain dew mouth’ there are real genetic differences in tooth quality, enamel density, infection resistance, etc. And overall physical health, especially in utero & during childhood, makes a real difference but doesn’t completely compensate for getting the ‘bad’ genes. Interestingly enough, having “good” teeth doesn’t necessarily correlate with perfect oral health… my dentist finds it rather frustrating that despite a mouthful of crowns & fillings my gums rebound from every insult with ease, while some of his other patients have “perfect” teeth that they’re forever in danger of losing to gum erosion. Speaking of which, I wish it weren’t true, but I’ve been told that the “real” point to paying so much for a dental crown on a front tooth (I’ve got two & agree that the price is horrifying) is that the bone & gum around the metal stump that holds the crown in place are a PRIMO area for bacterial invasion even after many years of healing! I completely understand why you’re suspicious about a new dentist trying to take advantage, but is there a medical professional you trust (maybe even your veterinarian?) that you can ask to make sure you’re not risking compromising your health?
Elroy's Lunch
AnneLaurie and Litlebritdifrnt: I’m going with genetics on tooth quality. As a kid I grew up on well water (no fluoride), overseas in various countries where the water was pretty dodgy (no fluoride but plenty of bugs) and generally didn’t take very much care of my teeth for years. I have all my teeth, perfect occlusion, never wore braces, have very few cavities and this new crown is my first (and hopefully last) “major” dental work. Whenever I go to my dentist for regular cleaning and checkups she pretty much says, “yeah, okay, your teeth are fine now go on, get out of here.”
I’m thinking I won the genetic lottery as far as teeth go.
Krista
That’d make one hell of a business card.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@Laura W Darling:
I only know PayPogo, not familiar with free pogo. Not sure if you can use the friend-hookup feature on the free side.
I will tell Rome that you are inquiring, she is a pogo guru.
Third Eye Open
@Ruemara:
I must admit, I LOVE the visits to the dentist for regular cleanings. I love that metal poker/hook combo device, I love a rough-hand when it comes to flossing, and even find the polisher to be a soothing sound.
OTOH, I do find the smell of the polish to be gag-worthy, especially when it sits in the little puddles left by an inattentive assistant.
Little Dreamer
Laura,
I don’t have a Mac and I do have a membership.
When you go into a general area where you can create rooms in Scrabble, you can set up a private room and make it so others cannot join in unless they have the password (it’s in the table options you set up on a new table).
Once you do that, then let your friend either link to you from your Friends List, or tell him/her where you are and then either way your friend found you, you will have to give him/her the password to the room you created (preferably in email before you went into the room, do not post password in the general Scrabble chat).
Do not click “PLAY NOW” at the top of the Scrobble general page as that would throw you into an area where there are people ready to play against you that you do not know.
Little Dreamer
Scrobble? Hmmmmm, Scrabble said in a nice English accent of course. ;)
Haha!
I just moved and I’m enjoying my first meal in my new home, shut up!
wonkie
My sister used to be a dentist. Now she is a psychologist specializing in pain therapy. She tried to kill me twice when we were kids–seriously. She used poison. I had to get my stomach pumped. But I digress. When she was in dental school the students made up joke names for their classes: the class on basic fillings was called Drill, Fill and Bill, and the class on root canals was called Ream and Scream. My sister has only one filing which she didn’t need but she got so that she would know what it felt like.
Me, I have fillings from my wisdoms to my canines, some of them done by my sister.
Steeplejack
Late, as usual, but . . . Steep back in the house!
Have had a hectic month, the highlight of which was no computer. Old hard disk (but not that old–about three years–damn you, Samsung!) suddenly died, and it took me way too long to get a replacement, troubleshoot my somewhat exotic [*cough* Rube Goldberg *cough*] computer setup and try (so far unsuccessfully) to retrieve some data that hadn’t been backed up. But I’m back up now with a bare-bones installation of Windows XP on a snortin’ 1-terabyte Western Digital drive. Will upgrade to Vista tomorrow morning, somewhat reluctantly, mainly because one of the secondary problems in this crisis was that I could not find my original XP installation/recovery CD to save my life. God damn it. I found everything else, including English papers dating to junior high school, but not the XP CD. And yet for some reason I had a Vista upgrade CD (non-bootable–another problem) I never used that will get me back on the paths of the righteous once I get it installed. I won’t go into the steps I had to take to get a bootable copy of XP to get back in play. [Shudder]
Anyway, the experience of being off the computer for such a long stretch of time–easily the longest in 25 years–was interesting for this infomaniac, as was reading bits and pieces of Balloon Juice on my cell phone. Actually, the whole semi-low-tech cell-phone-only lifestyle was interesting. By coincidence, a few months ago I changed my Verizon plan to give me fewer prime-time minutes but unlimited texting, Web access and GPS (yeah, WTF?!–but very cool), and I was pleasantly surprised at what all I could accomplish on the phone (LG enV–horizontal clamshell with good-sized inner screen and tiny QWERTY keyboard).
The highlight of the month, though, stupid as it sounds, was paying my Cox cable/Internet bill via the freakin’ TV. I was fretting one night because the bill was coming due and I had no idea how to pay by mail or phone–“I’ll just go on line and Google their num–oh, fuck!”–and somehow, noodling around in the on-demand/pay-per-view menus, where I never go, I discovered a customer service menu, from which I was able to pay the bill on the TV screen. Am I being overly nerdgasmic in thinking that this is so fucking cool?! Rhetorical question. I may keep on paying that way just for the hell of it. But I digress.
Would love to contribute to the dental tone of this thread with my own saga of childhood orthodontics and compound fracture of the jaw (mugging) two years ago, but I’ve blown on too long already.
Anyway, good to be back, and, Laura Darling, I’m coming for you. We’ve got some Annie Lennox songs to discuss.
LD50
That’s because completely different things cause you to need crowns and fillings versus having gum problems. They’re unrelated conditions. I had maybe 2 cavities in my whole life, and have perfect teeth, but I have to get cleanings 3-4 times a year because of gum problems. If I didn’t get my teeth cleaned, I’d probably start losing teeth in 2-3 years. Yet my best friend from high school has literally had 45 fillings.
Cavities et al are caused by saliva that’s too acidic. Gum problems are caused by saliva that’s too basic.
Steeplejack
Well, great. Apparently my baleful presence has killed yet another thread. I’ve still got it, baby! Fuck all of you. Are there no night owls here?
(Apologies to LD50, who snuck in while I was composing my rant.)
Third Eye Open
@Steeplejack:
There are, but we are the grind-line. We ain’t pretty, we just hit people
Steeplejack
@Third Eye Open:
Word. Well, I’m off to bed–reluctantly. I’ve got some OS-upgradin’ to do tomorrow.
KRK
@Ruemara:
No, you’re not the only one. I love having my teeth cleaned. Always have.
Chuck Butcher
Dentists, eeek. I am damn near invulnerable to novacaine and laughing gas only makes me crazy. I weigh a buck fifty soaking wet and my dentist has a cat every time he sees me – as he put it last time he worked on my teeth, I have a cocktail mixed up just for you, since it’s an over dose for a 350 pound man I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it. It wasn’t quite enough.
I’m seriously screwed when it comes to pain meds and anesthetics, really seriously…screwed.
Mnemosyne
@Chuck Butcher:
A friend of mine was from an anesthetic-impervious family and her brother broke his leg in three places. The massive amount of anesthetic they gave him took the edge off and that was about it.
OriGuy
My housemate has bad genes. One of the things she has is Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which affects collagen production. Among the many things it affects are the teeth. Novocaine is also less effective on her and wears off faster. It doesn’t help that she’s on SSI and the Governator is cutting off DentiCal. There were only a few dental offices that took it to start with.
Cain
@Hypatia:
Gosh.. interesting. My wife became a dentist because she worked as an assistant and thought “wow, I want to do that after I graduate from school” and that was that.
:)
cain
Cain
@AnneLaurie:
What?! My wife makes quite a bit more than I do as a dentist compared to an engineer. If you’re in an area with high production it’s mucho money. Easily can make about 250K if you have your own practice.
So, I don’t think it has anything to do with women being more in the field. Unless you think dentists were making a lot more in the 80s or something. Unless you have some numbers to back this up?
cain
Chuck Butcher
@Mnemosyne:
I have the unfortunate situation of essentially being wired for 110v and operating on 220v so anything that goes in a down direction has little effect, that was bad during my career as a drinker. Docs pay no attention to my warnings and my couple out-patient experiences have taken more time getting me numbed enough than the procedure. I get damned tired of being ignored and having the initial novacaine wearing off by the time they get enough into me. They seem to learn after one go around, but it shouldn’t take a learning curve. The hell of it is that I have a high tolerance to pain as well.
Gas is just pointless, all it does is wind me up – stupidly. To get me sedated with it would put me in danger of crapping out. Hopefully I’ll be able to dodge ever having major surgery, there’s a real danger of either killing me or having me quite conscious – not cool.
The roots of my teeth are all curved, creating a sort of lock into my jaws, bad for extractions – like all my wisdoms, urgh.
Laura W Darling
@Little Dreamer: Thanks so much, Rome! Have copied your help. Never would’ve figured this out myself!
Laura W Darling
@Steeplejack:
Boy, I thought something bad (worse) happened to you!
Next time we’re here at the same time, I think I have the EBTG project together.
Ha!
AnneLaurie
Cain:
Heck, if the historical trend “more women = lower pay” has been broken (at least for dentists) this is GREAT news!
(I’m an Eeyore by experience, not by philosophical preference.)