Today is the day I have three and a half hours off in the afternoon and where did I go ? You've guessed it the dentist ! Now tell me why is it that one always gets raging toothache on Friday evenings at about 8pm ? Friday night was a very long night especially as V had a bad one too and our new Elk , which replaced our exhausted old one which had run out of puff - literally ,decided to go on strike and refused to inflate . Not a lot of fun to be had in our household at 4am .
Anyway where was I - ah yes the dentist . I have a love hate relationship with my dentists - they love me because I am huge source of income and I hate them because they discuss things with me when I can't answer back . My last three have taken early retirement mostly on the proceeds of my teeth and my present one is a Romanian with a passionate dislike of all things Greek .He loves to discuss politics as indeed do I but with my mouth stuffed with cotton wall ,some diabolical torture instrument for removing saliva and a high pitched drill my chances of having a sensible intelligent debate are severely curtailed ." what do you think of the latest Greek bail out? " he asks " ahhhhhhbbluph fllopop shweeawr" I reply "no I don't agree" he says- how on earth he has managed to interpret my reply I have no idea .And so it goes on .
However there is a bonus to being in that chair -out of reach of all communication for at least half an hour and if I accidentally bite his fingers I can stretch it to 45 minutes .I gaze at the ceiling and dream dreams and all too soon it comes to an end .Now my teeth are like the Forth Bridge when you have finished painting it at one end it is time to start at the other end again . Every time I finish treatment the poor misguided dentists say " see you in six months " but I know better ,it will probably be in two or three weeks - respite care -who needs it when you've got the dentist .
Georgepa
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Georgepa
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Thanks once again Georgepa for making me laugh at your vivid description of your trip to the dentist. I don't suppose you were laughing though. I wouldn't get much respite if I waited for the dentist trip. I only see him once a year now and he can't retire on what I pay him as I am fortunate enough to have an NHS one. He first treated me when I was 20 and single. I married Colin when I was 21 and we went to the dentist together every 6 months for 2 years, we then took son number 1 as a baby and toddler, followed over the next 6 years by sons 2 & 3. Our dentist married the same year as us and had children at roughly the same time but with another between our 1 & 2. We always went as a family until the boys grew up and flew the nest. They all stopped going to the dentist regularly until they married and their wives got them into good habits again. Amazingly our lovely dentist took them all back on his NHS list and added their wives as well. At the time, one lived in London, one in Brighton and one locally. The London one finally left the practise when he moved to Suffolk, a bit too far to travel to Kent but our middle son and daughter in law take our grandsons with them and the youngest one and his wife still go to him. Someone said I was mad when I said I'd rather go to the dentist than the hairdresser but I find it far less stressful. I've told him he can't retire until I'm dead or no longer have teeth. Over 40 years is a long time to have the same dentist.
I hope yours sorted your problem out and you are no longer in pain. I also hope you managed to bring the elk back to life. The same thing happened to ours once and I had to call the paramedics to help me get C up. The elk was by the side of him, dead. The paramedic flicked a switch on the side and hey presto, it came back to life. It was in standby mode or something. I'd used it loads of times before and don't remember pressing the button. I hope you have a better night tonight.
NannaB your dentist sounds almost like a family member! How nice to have such a relationship; one that spans decades !!!1 I've never lived in one place long enough to have such a connection! and to think that had you not instilled that in your sons at a young age may have never come back or created their own dental routine. Good job , Mom
I think we have strong teeth. Our sons are 35, 37 and 41 and none of them have ever had a filling. The middle one and his wife were devastated when their 8 year old had to have one last time they went. They are so strict about what food the boys can and can't have. They never have fizzy drink. Even at parties they refuse it themselves. The dentist said it was probably caused by the natural sugars in all the fruit juice they drink so that is now limited. Fortunately they both drink a lot of water.
Although we have known the dentist for years, about five years ago I failed to recognise him. We were in the swimming pool and a man about my height came and said hello. It took a while before I realised it was him. He looked totally different without clothes! When I walk into the surgery he is always perched on a high stool and of course, in the chair all I see is the ceiling and a face mask. I always thought he was tall.
A year before I left work a young man arrived as a newly qualified teacher. He sounded very familiar and I thought I'd seen him before. It was three weeks before I saw his surname and asked if his dad was a dentist. He is. A bit later I went into his classroom at break time and he was drinking out of a large bottle of coke. When I said I was surprised he was drinking that knowing who his father was, he said, " Coke was forbidden for 19 years, I'm making up for it now". I didn't tell his dad although at his next visit he did tell me his son had said he worked with me.
Ohhohohoh, the secrets you must keep...the dentists son drinking tooth dissolving coke :=( that's as good of snaggle tooth I can do hahha! we were a low coke family too. Dr said my daughter was brushing too hard and making small pits in her front teeth! you can't please em unless they're drilling your teeth or your pocket haha
So did you tell me before what you taught? I taught sp ed 5th and 6th grade I really think you did tell me but I've always had a bad memory...so do tell me again! some of my lessons had to be adlib....even my observation by one of my principals was off the cuff...could not remember,..Got pretty good marks though haha
I remember seeing one of my principals (diff't one) at the pool......not a sight I ever want to see nor shall I ever forget (so much for the bad memory...where is it when I need it ugh!)
I'm not a trained teacher. I was called a Learning Support Manager ( or as my ID badge said, Learning Supper Manager! ) The main part of my job was to see that all students who needed extra help, got it. All year 7 students take cognitive ability tests. I would look at the data and flag up any anomalies, observe the student in class and if I thought there was a problem, discuss them at a multi agency meeting so that the relevant professionals could come into school and assess. Once observed I had to inform all staff of strategies suggested and make sure they were carrying them out. Staff would ask me to observe students as well. I did have to act as a supply teacher quite often and take groups out of class for catchup classes. I was also responsible for all pupils with English as an addition language. I had lesson observations as well when I had groups of 12/14 but nothing could be off the cuff. Lesson plans had to be written with 10 minute time slots and the observer would make sure I kept to the plan.
I was also line manager to 5 teaching assistants so had to do observations on them and give feed back. That wasn't so good as they were my friends before I was their line manager. That was awkward as I discovered that 2 of them, who I like a lot and had been out with socially, were pretty useless in the classroom. More work for me, I had to write a training programme.
My job involved a lot more with contact with parents and professionals.
Oh I remember (well , your name badge any way) Boy Howdy! I had a supervisor of special ed to do some of what you did; ed psychs to do the other stuff and principals to the rest. My goodness, you had quite the job! Were you in one school, or many? <y supervisor had 9 districts from elementary to high school.....I never saw her....but I heard she visited a few. I did make lesson plans and followed them but there were some times I forgot what they were, and winged it. I would get the plan done but not in the same order or maybe I would take it a different way than the actual plan..I did not mind including the todays experience by the kids with todays lessons which meant ad libbing. ie. Use of Time. They would come in late and I would give them a math lesson on time management that met the lesson of the day...just not the plan i had in mind..Well I am glad you weren't my observer....probably be out on my bum in no time hahaha. I am impressed by all you had to do!Thank you again for telling me...and if I ask again.....well you better mark me down for lack of brain management....dementia/ Alzheimers...or simply brain atrophy!
I think nowadays there is too much paperwork done by teachers in school. It's far more sensible relating lessons to everyday life than sticking to a curriculum which seems totally irrelevant to the student. Time management is very important. I wish someone had given me a lesson in it.
I worked in the same place for 20 years but the school changed its name 4 times and I had 3 different heads/principals. Two of them were pretty ineffectual and the last one extremely efficient. With the final one, students had to be assessed every 6 weeks and if they hadn't made progress she wanted to know why. It put all staff under great stress. Scores would be looked at during a full staff meeting and she would ask why x hadn't made progress. With one pupil she pointed out lack of progress in all subjects and I could see staff feeling more and more uncomfortable. I couldn'd sit there and listen any longer and put my hand up like a child. She asked me what I wanted to say so I said it.....6 weeks ago x would not enter a classroom, now he does, that's progress. 6 weeks ago he wouldn't make eye contact, now he will look at me, that's progress, 6 weeks ago he would sit under the desk with his hood over his head, now he takes his coat off and sits at a desk, that's progress. She stopped me talking by saying, OK, point taken.
On another occasion she asked why a child had managed to make progress in maths but not in any other subject. No one said anything so again my hand went up and I pointed out that x was a very intelligent girl but spoke very little English as her parents didn't either. She had only been in the country for 3 months. for most of those who hadn't mad progress, there was a good reason but there was so much pressure for the numbers to look right, common sense went out of the window.
Well Good Morning, to both you and Colin! Woke up to rain and it's still doing it.
looked at a weather site yesterday, checking out all my old haunts, Indiana, New York, Missouri, Arkansas. All had about same temp 86*F and humidity about 68%...kind of humid but do-able with that temp. Then I checked out my earliest living area, Paradise California,
99* F with a humidity of 28%!!!!! 28% You can watch your skin dry up at that LOW humidity! Oh poor west coast is having a time with it in regard to the drought!
Well anyway...
Please forgive me if I've told you this before....But I taught for 15 years.
Had 11 principals and 5 Superintendents 2 of whom were appointed by the state for fiscal distress (None of my principals could pronounce it correctly......"Physical distress"...which is what I got when they used this term to discuss our lack of money...!")...Maybe it's a Southern thing whatever..When Every Child Left Behind (That's what I called it) By Pres Bush was implemented....The children's tests became the teachers promotion/even career... A very scary prognosis(?) for the teachers. Teachers started fixing the tests for their own survival. So Bush was out OBama in and Now Common Crap....more tests more often and specific curriculum...I just could not wrap my head around it.....between the bullying (perceived or otherwise) trying to teach special needs kids this specific curriculum, and my husband diagnosed with this disorder... I was gone. Happily.....
And, like you I tried to enlighten the teachers and the administration to the STUDENTS goals....but if x wasn't able to do it, The teachers would exclaim,"get them out of my class...they should be there with you."
My belief is a D in regular class is an A in mine...at least they are gleaning something that I would not have provided.....even if it's just socialization with regular students....Well My hubby is up now too.....
Wow we carers find respite wherever we can, eh? so far I haven't used the dentist for anything more than dental rejuvenation ....But DR comes with a stealthy price tag ....and when he tells me of his sons antics in new his BMW ...I wee why....But he is a good dentist...did you know teeth need opposing teeth lest they keep growing?....My two top back molars have no bottom molars and are much longer than the rest of my teeth.....and will soon need to be pulled.......As long as I don't need a root canal!.... No good experiences there!
Thanks George for raising a smile, I recently had a molar replaced by a crown, had to have M in surgery with me, she was laughing every time I winced, gargled a reply to our Ukranian dentist or groaned when they wrenched the dental moulds out. They even gave her an X-ray shield when my teeth were scanned very glamorous not. As you say our weekly 3 hours respite is always too short to get everything done. Best wishes Tim
What? you had to take your wife with you.....dang man you need to get that caretaker Georgepa gets....or do you get it? I guess you do since you could relate to him....It's too bad we aren't all closer so as to help each other out eh?
I get 2 hr a week sitting service OK for banking, shopping but never long enough for dental or eye clinic so I take M along gets some sympathy but usually I get seen quickly especially if I say I will need to feed her if they do not hurry up. That's the snag with PSP it strikes so far apart no clusters.
Surely an Osteopath is better than the dentist. One place I really can't abide going!!! The noise, smell turns me to jelly. As for having something in my mouth, really can't cope!!! It's an endurance every six months!
Ah, I love going to have my teeth cleaned. I have a lovely hygienist, same one for 20 years, and I could almost go to sleep while she's doing her thing. A welcome hour. I'd go every week if I could!
True that...tho My fellow teachers, when they talked to me, would only say...oh I couldn't do special ed. all day......I just can't do that....and leave me with doubt of my own ability...
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that's as good of snaggle tooth I can do hahha! we were a low coke family too. Dr said my daughter was brushing too hard and making small pits in her front teeth! you can't please em unless they're drilling your teeth or your pocket haha
Update on Medical Professionals and how to access dental treatment as housebound
dorothy-thompson
Giving up
