Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Face Recognition ... the entitlement of teeth

Warning: the content may trigger reactions!


The music was irritating. The drilling next door added to my anxiousness. To get here on time we left the woods midmorning, my appointment was for 2:45. By 3:15 the dental assistant I remember from my first visits here three years ago had asked me why I was here, focusing on what was to be done. The dentist wanted a current set of x-rays to assess the health of my teeth.


"How much?" I asked.
"$135" Too much, but I said, "Okay." I figured we needed something to use as a base, and it has been years since I've had dental x-rays.


 A mother of five, this woman is an orchestrator. Mothering may have honed her skill, I wonder but that she had it prior. Before my appointment was over I was pretty sure this woman came with orchestration as her calling.


People with MCS share their experiences with 'the professions' much the same way good cooks and bakers share recipes that are consistently delicious, and comforting. If we can afford their fees we sensitives go to a dentist like this one. The building itself was built with environmental safety in mind from the ground up, and fragrance and chemical free practices make it possible to be within a space for routine and/or specialized medical care.


Living on a fixed-income and being a recipient of a monthly Social Security, the reality of dental care requires juggling reality with faith. Satori wrote about the quality of today's planetary line-up and included the following paragraph. I find its worth and plug it into my experience with dental surgery.


"... Sensations and feelings are neutral until interpreted. The Moon is moving toward conjunction with Neptune and Mercury. Slow down and consciously look for positive interpretations of any sensations that seem crushing or jarring. Pain or discomfort is a signal, information. Overreactions can be circumvented by altering perception..."


As I sit to write this piece JOTS is curled on her tiles on the table. She's asleep but would wake with a flash if the sparrows outside flitter and fuss just outside the Quonset window. She keeps me company. Yesterday's procedure has left me with another gap on the left side of my jaw. Sutures hold in a clot of my own specially spun blood to begin the healing process. Homeopathic dental remedy calms my system rather than antibiotics and an ice pack slows the swelling. A case of young Thai coconuts ordered this weekend are part of my liquid diet, and provide me with the electrolytes and the comfort of Island connection. Pete has made me quarts of freshly made calcium rich sesame seed milk to drink too. I've had cups of carrot and cashew ginger soup.


The extraction was incredible.


"This was sensational!" I told the assistant when she was giving me the icepack and second dose of homeopathic remedy. The word surprised her, "Sensational?"


"Yeah, like so many sensations." I said.


"Oh ..." She got my drift.


I had come to have a couple other teeth checked: a temporary build-up on a molar had kept me going for three years. It was wearing down. "Are we going to put that crown on it today?"


"Well," I said, prepared for this question I put it to the dentist this way. "I know how much money I DO have, and also know how much money I don't have. How much is the crown?"


"$1,200"


"That's half of all the money I do have (to spend of teeth)."


"The surgery (extraction) will cost me $400 or $500."


The dentist said, "Yes, we can do it for that much." (Hear the unspoken there?) This is a costly enterprise.


By this time the irritating music and the drilling elsewhere was drowned by the focus of my conversation with this medical practitioner.


The Orchestrator/Assistant stepped in at this point and suggested being able to repair the temporary and file-down the eye tooth that was causing me problems. The dental said, "Yes, I can do that with no charge."



The surgery was necessary. I knew that, and had put it on hold as I managed other parts of my life, and my health, and paid down the expenses from previous dental work; I prepared myself over time to have the tooth extracted. Yesterday, several hundreds of dollars later, I have a way to make payments for the procedure. As my astrologer suggests in her insight for today's astrology, "Sensations and feelings are neutral until interpreted." After three years the infection that has affected me and my immune system is gone. The sensations I feel are many: I consider the choices. I could be grateful to have a way to pay for these treatments on a fixed income. I could be grateful for a partner and husband who considers waiting for me for two hours as "Down time, doing nothing. Something I don't do otherwise." My teeth? They are old and others of them will need care. I discern my approach with the money I do have to spend, and keep the rest of Satori's advice in hand:


"... Slow down and consciously look for positive interpretations of any sensations that seem crushing or jarring."



Extractions leave holes. A pretty smile (with teeth) is one of those Western entitlements many cultures on the planet view differently. I remember the blood that flows through me comes from ancient Eastern and Island stock. I still have a few teeth left, and a few more gaps as well. It's a wild world we humans live in. The young ravens raising a ruckus in the tree tops recognize my face. They recognize Pete's face too. Will their skill of face recognition change because we have more gaps and fewer teeth? I doubt that. We'll see though. We'll just have to wait and see.



1 comment:

  1. I've been taking my own medicine stories to clear the way. It surprises me when I re-read them and find myth had answers outside of logic. "The Joy Weed Journal" reminded me of the character Max and his toothless grin as big as bowls. http://thejoyweedjournal.blogspot.com/2013/01/joy-weed.html

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