The Man With The X-Ray Teeth

            On Friday morning I pretty much finished working out the chords for "On n'est pas des grenouilles" (We Are Not Amphibians) by Serge Gainsbourg. There's just a repeated chorus at the end and it probably has the same chords as the other choruses. 

            I weighed 89 kilos before breakfast. 

            At 9:30 I got ready to leave for my dental appointment. I've noticed for the last few days that the A+ Sushi and Bibim across the street has paper on the windows so I didn't know if covid had put them out of business or if they are renovating. As I crossed Queen with my bike to head east for the clinic I read the notice on their window. It said Coming Soon Korean Restaurant and I think the name written was "Dabu." I guess it could be the same owners since they were Korean too. 

            I got to the clinic at 9:50. I was locking my bike when a friendly woman who was on her way in and obviously worked there asked if I needed a bike lock. I guess they lend them to patients. I said thanks but I have one. I had to buzz to get in. A guy at a table told me to sanitize my hands and then gave me a new mask to wear. When I told him I was there for a dental appointment he directed me down the hall and I ended up in a dental clinic area where I wasn't supposed to be. The guy should have directed me to the window that was three meters away from him. I had forgotten to bring something with my address on it but she let it slide. I filled out the forms and waited. I used the washroom and they have no locks. I guess because they don't want people to have privacy when they shoot up. Someone wrote “Armagedon” on two of the washroom walls. They should at least learn to spell. I sat with my laptop, did some writing and read some of Henry IV part 1. 

           It was about 10:45 before the dental assistant called me in. I had to rinse my mouth with that horrible antiseptic but it wasn't as bad tasting as the stuff they use at Midtown Dental. I met Dr Lake. She's fairly young but she seems to know what she's doing. The assistant, Sherry looked old enough to have been Dr Lake's mother if they'd been of the same ethnicity. She noticed right away that I'd bitten my tongue recently. 

           She did the most thorough tooth by tooth examination by hand that I'd ever experienced and called out the name of each tooth and their condition while Sherry typed it down on the computer. Dr Lake reminded her to "save." She went through all the teeth again checking for mobility and then she checked all the gums. There was a lot of bleeding and it seems I have severe gum disease which is depressing because it doesnt make me feel very kissable. 

            They then took more x-rays of my mouth then I remember ever having. Sherry struggled with getting the arm of the x-ray camera into position for the left side and finally gave up and just had me turn my head to the right so she could shoot from a frontal position. the x-ray film holder got wedged between some teeth on the lower left side and she couldn't pull it out. As she yanked on it I felt like I was having a tooth pulled. Finally she called Dr Lake and when she came Sherry said, "He bit too hard!" Way to pass the buck Sherry! Dr Lake got it out and finished the x-rays herself easily. 

            Dr Lake had time to do some small fillings of what she called "ditches" on my lower front teeth. There's lots more work to be done and I made two appointments for December 1 and 10. She recommended that I have two teeth removed on the upper left. She said there's a lot of bone loss there that could spread to other teeth. I'm reluctant to lose any more teeth if they aren't infected. 

            She said the reason my gums are in such bad shape is that I haven't had regular cleanings with a hygenecist every three months. I can get cleanings under the Ontario Seniors Dental Plan but all of the hygenecists have been redeployed right now because of the pandemic to do things like contact tracing. That's a bummer for me but also for them because they can't do what they are trained to do. 

            I weighed 88.9 kilos before lunch. In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor. On Queen Street I rode behind and sometimes passed a young guy with dreadlocks on an e-bike with pedals. The seat was really too low because his knees were sticking out sideways like wings. He was playing a kind of reggae that was more interesting than usual and singing very loudly as he rode along. I weighed 89 kilos when I got home. 

            I finished reading 2.4 of Henry IV part 1. The Prince and Falstaff are role playing in the tavern with the Prince playing the King and Falstaff playing Hal. They are talking about Falstaff and Falstaff is hoping to learn his own fate when the sheriff comes to the tavern door. Falstaff hides behind a screen and falls asleep while the Prince dismisses the sheriff. 

            I read chapter 8 of The Scarlet Letter. The governor wants proof that Pearl is receiving a Christian upbringing or he'll take her away from Hester. But when asked where she came from Pearl says she was plucked from a rose bush. He takes this as evidence that she needs to be removed from her mother's influence. Hester says she will die first and appeals to the minister Dinnesdale to argue on her behalf. He does so and successfully but if I were a Puritan I wouldn't have been convinced. That Pearl somehow teaches Hester by her very existence how to be a good Christian and that she will therefore impart that back to Pearl seems pretty lame. 

            I read 3.1 of Henry IV. Hotspur, Mortimer and Glendwr meet to plot their division of England but are already divided themelves. Hotspur doesn't like Glendwr. Glendwr sees himself as having power over the elements. Mortimer tries to make peace because Glendwr is his father in law. Mortimer sleeps with his head on the lap of his wife while she sings a Welsh song. The only language they have in common is that of the senses. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a piece of African style chicken while watching an episode of Gomer Pyle. 

            In this story a concert is being held on the base for a visiting general and as Gomer did such a good job singing in Washington he's expected to sing again. But that means that Gomer has to neglect his regular duties to rehearse and he feels guilty. When he gets home late at night from rehearsal he tries to go out and do the work his platoon did during the day. But that results in him sleeping and being late for rehearsal. Carter finds out what Gomer has been doing and the night of the concert he gets Gomer to wake up long enough to sing one song, but then he falls asleep in the stage wings. Carter tells him he's shirking his duties and he wakes up enough to sing another song.