Some dental fun

I had a three-in-one dental job done yesterday.

Two broken old amalgam filings were replaced with ceramics. On a third tooth, I had a full crown done to replace the long-gone filing. Amalgam filings have a definite lifespan and they tend to break or fall out. I had one snap in half when eating some muesli.

The dentist (Dr Richard Huebl from Riken Dental) was very good. Richard was recommended to me by a couple of fellow employees and he certainly was worth seeing. But DAMN crowns cost a lot. If I didn't have health cover I'd be a much poorer person.

The three were done in one hit, which was a good thing but my back teeth were flooding by the end. I needed to see a man about a dog? Some other euphamism for "I needed to wee".

Anywho, the new filings are ceramic, and Richard used a 3D camera to take a shot of the hole, then he drew a line around the gap on the computer screen. The program they use filled the picture of the hole with a filing and Richard adjusted it. Once he was done, he printed it! The "printer" uses computer controlled bits that carve out the filing from a block of ceramic. Water is sprayed over the block constantly (at a guess, to stop it getting really really hot and shattering). After its done, Richard 'glued' it in place and it was done.

My jaw is still hurting a bit (from having to keep it open wide for nearly two hours) but other than that I don't have gaping holes where I should have teeth now.