An appointment at last

I’ve finally managed to get an appointment to get my tooth filled. It won’t be until next week but at least it will be seen.

 

I gather the new system means I have to have one appointment for the dentist to assess what needs to be done & possibly have a temporary filling inserted. Then the following week it will be filled. The two appointments will not constitute a single course of treatment so I will have to pay twice. It seems a swizzle to me, especially when you consider if I waited for my usual check-up, the check-up & subsequent filling would then be one course. However, the soonest I can get a check-up appointment is in November – our August one has had to be cancelled due to the virus - & November seems an awful long time to wait when you have toothache, no matter how occasional it is.

 

My next job is to locate a face mask as I will not be allowed in without one. Again this seems ridiculous as clearly he can’t inspect my teeth through the face mask. Sooner or later he will have to risk seeing me without one.

 

I hate face masks. I find them hot & sweaty. Glasses tend to steam up making it difficult to see. When I threw away the single use mask I was given at Preston hospital I vowed to not buy any. Now it seems I must if I’m to have my tooth repaired. What is more I presumably will have to have a second one for the second appointment unless I buy, or make a cloth one & wash it in between.

 

I can afford it, but I am aware how, in the past when money was a lot tighter, the extra costs would really have stretched the bank balance. And yet, surely everybody ought to be able to access medical treatment regardless of their financial position. I regard tooth care as in important medical treatment.