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Episode 38 Adventures of the Dentures Part 2
Episode 38 Adventures of the Dentures Pt2

Episode 38 Adventures of the Dentures Part 2

  • Post category:Podcast

In this podcast episode, we talk about the latest status (and possibly conclude) the journey of getting full dentures for Zen Master.

Links to resources/articles referenced in the episode:

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TRANSCRIPT:

Hello! Welcome to the Sally in the Zen podcast. I’m your host, Sally. I’m a Zen Buddhist caregiver, taking care of my elderly folks and always in pursuits to find Zen moments in everyday living. If you’re new to the podcast, welcome. If you’re not new, and you’re returning, welcome back.

Well, hope everybody is doing safe and sound. I hope you and your family are well. We are. Now before we get going on the subject for today’s episode, let me touch really briefly on what’s happening in our particular neck of the woods, in the State of PA in the United States.

So I’m taping this episode on Sunday, January 17th, and that’s 3 days from Biden’s inauguration. We’re basically staying indoors for this whole entire week or two, and that’s really nothing different since we’ve been staying home since March of last year because of COVID, right.  But even more so, since it’s Inauguration Week and with the stuff that’s happening around that; and what happened last week in DC, our State Capital, Harrisburg, is locked down for the inaugurations because of anticipated protesters and possible riots. But that’s also happening across the country, in other state capitals. All I have to say is it’s pretty surreal that we’re living, really living through times like this – outside of a movie. Because when have we ever seen anything like this happening in real life, you know? Strange times that we’re living in.

Keep the faith, people. I’m keeping the faith with my family, staying close with them, but keep the faith that a brighter, better future is around the corner.

Anyway, let’s move on to today’s topic, which is a touch base on Zen Masters dentures.

So let me first quickly put out a normal disclaimer that everything I say on today’s episode are my opinions and my opinions alone. No one is paying me to say any of this, so that we’re pretty clear.

And my second quick disclaimer, because talking about dentists, teeth pulling, can be a trigger for people, so here is your three…two…one chance to turn this episode off. I’ll see you next time, or let’s just continue on. 

Now the latest status of where we stand from September 30th, from episode 30, when I was kicking off the Adventures of the dentures. 

So we’re halfway through the process of getting Pop’s full dentures. He is completely toothless in the head as we speak, and we recently went in there to get fitted for his dentures.  After the fitting, that would be a period of when that model will come back and we have to go back into the office to see if it fits. When it fits, the way supposed to fit, the dentist will send it off to the lab to get the final full dentures. And that will be about a month and a half after he sends it off.

But we recently got a phone call from a family friend, whose son went to the dentist, and he got COVID. He ended up having to stay at the hospital for two whole weeks and he recovered, but that family friend happened to call when we were, you know, in the middle of getting the dentures, right? 

This is after our visit to get fitted, right? We’re still waiting for the phone call from the dentist to say, hey, we got the model back, so come on in. We’re waiting for that phone call. But in the meantime, our family friend is telling us about her son, and she’s going hysterical on Zen Master and Zen Mum.  And of course, what happens? She freaks them out. 

So now Zen Masters’s afraid to go back to the dentist now. I totally get it. I totally understand but at the same time, he has no teeth. 

So what happens the next day? The dentist calls.

And they got the model and they’re ready for us to go back in to get fitted. Final fitting for it to be sent off to the lab. And I’m concerned too because I know they’re taking all the precautions. They’re doing the temperature checks for everybody who walks in. They’re all masked up, right?  They’re all gloved up. They’re all suited up. It didn’t really reassure me enough to take Pop out of the house.

So I told them our concerns. I spoke with the dentist and we negotiated, and we’re going to wait until after Chinese New Year’s, which is February 12th. It’s either the 11th or 12th. We’re going to wait until after Chinese New Year’s to go in – be the first one into the office, the earliest time slot of the day; be basically the first patient into the office and be a quick in and out. So, I’m okay with that but we’re going to wait until February before we even go out there.

Eventually, we’re going to have to go to the dentist to get his teeth because he can’t continue being toothless, you know what I mean? 

So Pop was okay with that arrangement. Dentist was okay with that arrangement. So stay tuned. After Chinese New Year’s, in the middle of February, we’re going to go and get fitted and hopefully drive that bus home, right?

So in the meantime, what are we doing? This is kind of funny because when people find out that Zen Master has literally no teeth, they’re asking immediately – the first question they would ask is how are you eating? And out of their mouths would be: are you eating pudding or eating mashed potatoes, right? Are you eating applesauce? 

But Pop is a diabetic, okay. And he also has the other classic symptoms of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, okay. So whatever. 

But there is naturally more things a person can eat besides those things – mashed potato, pudding, applesauce. Come on, it’s called technology. It’s called the magic bullet. Actually, it’s called Nutri-bullet. What we have – the Nutri-bullet blender. You put anything into that bullet and it blends up like nobody’s business. It would just make you baby food like nobody’s business.

So we throw in chicken…chicken and biscuits, right? Throw that puppy in there, you got chicken and biscuit soup. And what, we want spare ribs and rice we throw in spare ribs and rice. Actual meat without the bone and put in rice and gravy. Maybe even chicken broth, right, to make it soupy. Throw that puppy in there.  There’s more to life than just mashed potato and gravy, come on. Magic Bullet makes everything soft, smooth, and edible. And nutritious. 

I bet you anything Pop is getting more nutrition now than he’s ever had before, just with the Magic Bullet. Because we throw everything except the kitchen sink into the Magic Bullet and he eats it.  Jeepers. So, technology, thank you very much.

Okay, let me just take a deep breath here because I think during the last few minutes, I was ranting a bit about this. Because, like Maria Foleo says: everything is figureoutable. We’re no longer constrained to the old ways of, oh, you need soft food; hence, pudding, mashed potato, applesauce. We’ve got so much technology out there to make life so much easier, we just have to think a little bit out the box, right? Right. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Anyway, now let’s talk a little fun facts about dentistry, shall we? Yes, let’s do. Because I think this will be the last episode about his dentures. Because when he gets his dentures it’s just going to be a quick blurb on the future episode. So I’m not going to do a standalone episode for his dentures, unless something really extraordinary happens and then I’ll be like okay, it warrants his own spotlight. But let’s consider this episode the last episode for the adventures of the dentures. 

I’m going to end it with a few fun facts that I found from Hawaii Family Dental, which I will link on the show notes for your reference and reading pleasure.

So I’m going to read a couple of fun facts here. 

So, six is a cool number. This is also how many feet you should store your toothbrush from the toilet to airborne particles from accumulating on your toothbrush’s bristles. First of all, ewww.  

Okay, so next one. Many believe Washington’s – George Washington’s – dentures were made from wood. In reality, the four pairs of his custom chompers were made from lead, ivory, gold and a mixture of hippopotamus, donkey, and human teeth.  Um, ewww.

A person’s tongue print is different just like his or her fingerprints.  Now that’s interesting 

In 1498, the first toothbrush with bristles were designed in China. See, go China.  The ancient Chinese would use bristles made of hair from badgers, horses and hogs. It wasn’t until 1938 when the first approved commercial toothbrush was made. Very cool. Look at that.

Okay, let me end with a couple of dental statistics – just a good to know. Because I am a fountain of useless knowledge, and why should I be alone? Since we’re all family, I’m going to share it and spread it to you.  

Let’s see – the mouth produces more than 25,000 quarts of saliva in a lifetime. This is quite adequate to fill two swimming pools. Lovely.

Okay, let’s go to another one. About 73% of Americans prefer going grocery shopping than flossing. I love my teeth. I have always believed that if you take care of your teeth, your teeth will take care of you. Because I have said this in multiple episodes in the past, I plan to die with my teeth, my whole teeth, intact in my head. Thank you very much.

And here’s the last of a trivial thing about dental. The average person spends approximately 48 seconds brushing their teeth per day. However, the recommended time is at least 2 to 3 minutes. Okie dokie.

So, that takes us to the end of today’s episode. Hope you enjoyed it. 

As promised, it was light. It was quick, a quick touch base on where we are with Pop’s teeth. Hope you enjoyed it. 

If you have any questions or comments, email me at sally@sallyinthezen.com or you could drop by my blog sallyinthezen.com. Depending on what it is, maybe I’ll feature it on a future episode. We’ll see. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for spending a few minutes of your time and joining me in my pursuits to find Zen moments in everyday living. Stay safe stay well and I’ll talk to you next time.

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