Hi-tech crown

Technology has made the dentist's office an interesting place to hang out. Well, I can think of other places I'd rather be, but as long as you have to be there . . .

Today I had to have a crown put on to replace the inlay that fell out again and broke off a bit of tooth on the way out. You might recall my initial visit to the dentist.

In the photo above is the computer imagery of the designed crown. The dentist took infrared photos of what was left of my tooth (which involved much internal swearing on his part no doubt; "patient" does not describe my attitude in the dentist chair), then manipulated the image with Sirona software. It's a magical process.

His thoughtful assistant showed me how the image becomes a real-life bit of enamel to put in my mouth.

The raw material is composed of different sizes and colors of enamel, to [hopefully] match the other teeth in your mouth.

The perfect piece is placed in a machine (below, right) that carves the enamel to the computer specifications.

The result is a tiny purple piece of tooth; the minuscule handle (left side) facilitates handling of this wee thing.

The enamel is painted much like pottery, with a dab placed in the middle groove to make the crown look more tooth-like. Here the dentist (left) looks on.

The crown is placed in a miniature kiln.

After about 20 minutes, it is finished but still hot. So it is placed on another, cooler surface (here, a mug) to await placement in the mouth.

Within 2 hours of arriving at the dentist's office, I was driving off with a functional tooth. Amazing.

And thus this is another reminder to take care of your teeth so you can enjoy Montana's bounty. If you need a dentist in south central Montana, I can recommend a good one.

Ouch

In some ways, Tuesday was not such a good day for stroopwafels after all.

Lest you think eating in Montana is all joy and endless delight, I must insert a warning here that you should also take care of your teeth.

While biting into a chewy Caramel Cookie Waffle, I lost an inlay. Luckily, it was not a filling, which leaves a big hole in your tooth and must be taken care of immediately or you are in endless pain. An inlay leaves a big gap, but the tooth itself is covered with something that protects it and there is no pain at all, although there is the danger of infection.

A snow storm raged while I contemplated what to do about getting to a dentist. I'm still not comfortable driving icy roads, so the thought of having an emergency was daunting. It turns out, however, that I was able to make an appointment for today when the roads had cleared pretty much, and the intervening 3 days were endured with minimal unhappiness. (Though the sadness at giving up caramels will linger.)

My dentist in Columbus did a nice job replacing the inlay. All is well. But I won't be eating caramels again any time soon.