Turnaround

Well, as stated yesterday, I scheduled an appointment for my exam and got a whole lot more than that today!

After downloading Sigh's "Scenes From Hell" off iTunes (very recommended, by the way) and loading it on to my iPod, I proceeded to walk to the dental clinic. Not only is the building conveniently sandwiched between the Mother's Market and Albertson's stores that I shop at, they have most specialists under the same roof. I got there and started taking care of paperwork for my insurance. They were having trouble locating my files at Delta, but it turns out they were looking for my Premier account which, much to my surprise, was changed to a PPO plan. This meant I no longer had to worry about switching dentists. They took me in and shot my x-rays.

Radiology has advanced quite a bit since I was doing it in the USN back in the late 80's/early 90's. The x-rays were all digital and I got to see them within seconds of having them taken, rather than minutes. This was quite nice.

I was then introduced to Dr. Jonathon Shapiro. Dr. Shapiro proceeded to do my full exam and we immediately discussed the consultation for orthodontics and my mandibular prognathism. We also discussed my current dental state. Turns out that while I still have no cavities (whoohoo!), I had some subgingival calculus (tartar below the gumline) despite having had a root planing (cleaning below the gumline) 6 months ago. He also did an inspection of tooth #28 (this is your first bicuspid on your lower right) and said that it's still in good shape, but does show damage from my malocclusion. We could work on it, but it's not worth doing until after I get my teeth straightened. He then gave me a referral to an orthodontist here in Huntington Beach off of Brookhurst and Atlanta.

(Something that also makes me give 2 thumbs up is that he noticed my Slayer shirt from the 1998 tour and asked me when I had seen them and the current tour's cancellation due to Tom Araya's back surgery. Metal dentist!)

Dr. Shapiro said that normally he would refer me to their own orthodontist, Dr. Chen, but she's only in on Thursdays and the orthodontist they're referring me to works closely with an oral surgeon for cases such as mine. Upon inspecting the website of Dr. Neil J. Graham, I found that he's not only a USC graduate, but also a patent lawyer, with 10 patents for various products not only in the dental field, including invisible aligners (a 1986 invention similar to Invisalign), but also things like contact lens placement instruments!

I'll be making the call to Dr. Graham's office tomorrow when I'm finished with overtime at work. More to come!