Dental equipment and technique sure
have changed while I wasn't looking.
I had the same dentist in WV for nearly
25 years ... educated in the 70s, working with 70s equipment, even the traditional
porcelain spit basin. He did most of his work by feeling and looking.
Out of sight ... out of mind. I had no
idea how much modern, contemporary dentistry had evolved while I was stuck in the
days of silver fillings and xray film. Enter the world of dental radiology.
At my new dentist I was greeted by
plants and art and cool, soothing jazz on the sound system. They put my head in a
digital imaging system and did a 360 degree panorama of my teeth and gums. They
took digital bite wing xrays ... you don't bite down on a piece of film in a cardboard
container ... instead it's a "contact monitor." They used a long, slim camera on a
wire (kinda like a pen) to take extreme digital closeups from inside my mouth.
Then, as the dental assistant drove
the PC, the dentist showed me on the flat-screen, LCD monitor right next to the chair
everything that was wrong, and right, with my teeth ... in living color and at least
two megapixel density.
Pretty amazing stuff. I had no clue.
The good news is they can really look
a lot closer at every little crack, fracture and hard to get to hideaway. I saw right
there on the computer monitor just how deficient were the techniques and tools
deployed by my previous dentist. The bad news is I need a lot of work. At least five
teeth will have to have something done ... and as you would expect ... this guy
ain't cheap.
And not a spit basin to be seen ...
anywhere.
:::::
Nice to see
Suzn back after a breather. ;) Now ...
if we can just get Jann on the mend ...
The
Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic came and
went. It was hot ... not Phoenix hot ... but over 100 on Saturday and close to
it on Sunday. Golfers and spectators alike needed dry clothing at the end of the day.
I recognized a few of the personalities
that duffed and hacked their way through my back yard, including a couple of the ESPN
Sportscenter guys, Dean Smith (retired Hall of Fame basketball coach) and a few present
and former great hoopsters like Gerald Henderson, Meadowlark Lemon, Dereck Whittenburg
(one of Jim Valvano's recruits) ... and then there was Barkley.
You can't miss Charles Barkley. He is a mountain of a
man and a natural showman. He also had the biggest crowd following him around the
golf course. So imagine my surprise when he looks across the pond at me and hollers,
"Hey Jeff ... Internet Brothers rules!!!"
It's kinda hard to tell from a distance,
but if you click the thumbnail image, I've circled my new buddy Charles (the round
mound of rebound). You can tell he has the crowd around him all worked up.
Seriously ... he seemed like a nice
fellow. He paused for several photographs with delighted fans ... he signed at least
a dozen autographs for kids, and that was just in this one area. No doubt he was
besieged the entire day.
