The gift of pain

Anyone read the book "the gift of pain"? I don't agree with some of its principles, but one thing I agree with it is that we need pain in our body to tell us something is wrong.
That is the principle applied by the dentist I saw.

Apparently, having pain in your tooth during the drilling process is a sign that the dentist is hitting near your tooth's root. Now, nobody's ever explained this to me in all my years of going to Dentists. All I knew is that you drill my tooth and it will hurt.
Hence a lot of dentists use painkillers to dull the pain for patient's comfort.
It turns out, according to the Dentist I recently saw, that is a shortcut that can do a lot of damage to your teeth later on. If the Dentist doesn't know he's drilling down into the root of the tooth, it is possible he may damage the root and kill the tooth. I never knew that teeth were alive in that way.
But apparently, you can heal a tooth if you don't damage the root of it. And that's what my dentist did.

He explained that a lot of dentists just treat cavities like a road pothole; you just drill down and fill the hole. according to modern dental science, that's a pretty sloppy way of healing your tooth. When dentists drill willy nilly and patients feel nothing, they may already be damaging you more than you know... thus necessitating the need for a root canal later on or a complete extraction and implant.

So he really encouraged me not to rely on the pain meds. You know, it turns out, the pain wasn't that bad when the dentist knows what he's doing. When you feel the pain coming, just tell him and he backs off knowing that if he drills further, he could be damaging the root of the tooth.

It's all fascinating new knowledge for me and I love it when I learn something new each day.

The week

The best part of this week was the finishing of my dental work. Two teeth patched up nicely at the cheap cost of $30  per tooth. That's something you can pay for out of pocket. And the Dentist has standard imported equipment... the works. No Dentist from hell. It's an airconditoned room with 2 assistants helping him and two dental chairs. It's a pretty good bargain.

A Sweet Life

It's times like this I really love my life. :)
Today is one of those perfect days.
One of the best things about being able to bring my livelihood wherever I am, I get to enjoy low prices wherever they can be found.

Being in the Philippines is fab, fab, fab... Especially when it comes to going to massage parlors, getting medical or dental work done.
Got a full body today and with accompanying body scrub for the great price of $10. You get a private room with a shower, professional masseur or masseuse... ahhh... this IS life!

My full body work over is coming along at a great pace. I got one tooth fixed and I have a filling to go by end of next month. Dentist is totally pro. He's got 2 assistants, tools get sterilized after every session, top of the line titanium alloy posts if you want a dental implant. (from Japan) Fillings are $70 per tooth. Another sweet bargain. Like!

This time around, I won't need wart removal although those services are also a bargain. And there is no electrolysis involved... just a cream that melts them away. I often wonder why this isn't more popular around the world. It's a best kept secret...

Tonight, I'll be frying up my signature extra crispy spicy chicken tenders to go with some homemade cole slaw.
A perfect end to a fab day!

Good night, America!

Under the weather...

I am right now very unproductive and just laid up in bed.
Nice thing about being sick and feverish is no matter how hot the weather is, you still feel slightly chilly.
Last time I fell ill was 10 months ago when I first purchased old Great White.
I was driving around in the Texas heat but I sweated not a drop since I was having a bit of a fever on.

Well, good things will come tomorrow.
My hands are numb right now from all the lying down.

Good night, America!

My aunt's birthday

Well, it's all sunny news again where I am. Comfortably esconced in a country where the exchange rate for the diminishing US dollar is still somewhat decent...
Treated my aunt today to an awesome Chinese restaurant. It was her birthday and she is my fave auntie (almost a second Mum).
Began with an appetizer platter of marinated seaweed, Chinese leg ham, century egg, Chinese sausage and roast pork cutlets.
That was followed by bird's nest soup.
Main dishes were the vegetable chow mein, Red Rickshaw fried noodle (their signature dish) and fried tofu balls in soy sauce with ground shrimp.
To help it all digest well, we had floral green tea. Smooth as silk... It can really put one to sleep especially after such a heavy meal...
Ahh... heaven!

Dinner was simple but awesome. half a homemade white pizza with mushrooms and turkey bacon toppings.
Perfect way to end the day.