soreAfter a routine cleaning, Dr. Ferrer set out on the scheduled procedure for today: the replacement of two very old fillings. in my upper left rear and lower left rear molars. He looked again at the filling in my upper right rear molar and asked me if I had the time for him to replace it as well. All three are more than twenty years old (from long before I came to see him) and are wearing out badly. After confirming that this would stay within my $2000 annual dental coverage maximum, I said yes. Thus I spent the next several hours having old fillings drilled out and new ones installed. The drilling is no big deal (he's a deft touch with the needle), but keeping my jaw open that long is quite literally a pain. He gave me as many opportunities to rest as he could, including a break between the second and third filling, but nevertheless, by the time I was done, I felt like I'd had a baseball jammed into my mouth, and my jaw still aches seven hours later. Nevertheless, this was the right thing to do, as is minimized the total number of visits, and did important maintenance on my dental work.
Still, it's a good thing I worked most of Sunday and plan on longer hours tomorrow and Thursday, because that really blew a hole in the middle of my day. Fortunately, my current projects continue to be on schedule, with no active crisis of which I'm aware.