Here’s a informative overview of what natural pools or swimming ponds are all about. It’s from the Globe and Mail, a national Canadian newspaper. The article is informative in more ways than the obvious — with respect to this blog.

See the online version of the story (without the photos) here.

I’m not sure why I’ve never gotten around to mentioning Critters on my blog, but I think it’s time I do.

Andrew Burt and I don’t know each other personally, but we do have a long history together. Years ago, when the web was really young, Unix was in its hay day, blogs didn’t really exist, and I had a Commodore Amiga, I was a user on his free public internet system, Nyx. I used Nyx to host my “homepage” and telnet’d into it to play with Unix. Nyx, I believe, was one of the first freenet systems in existence at the time.

Nyx still remains free, but has changed owners. Aburt has moved on to other things. Among those things is Critters. Critters is best described in Aburt’s own words:

Critters is an on-line workshop/critique group for serious writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. You get your work critiqued in exchange for critiquing the work of others, both of which are invaluable ways to improve your writing. It’s run by Dr. Andrew Burt, vice-president of SFWA and his army of software minions. Critters is free (except for the work of doing critiques!); if you find Critters useful, you may make a donation (appreciated but in no way required).

Critters requires some commitment on your part to keep up with critiques, but is most definitely an invaluable resource towards improving your writing. Critiquing other works requires analysis that is appropriate for your own work and, of course, having your work critiqued is a bonus.

If you write in one of the genres that Critters caters towards, be sure to check the site out. Let me know what you think of it.

I enter the consultation room.

Me: Hi, I’m Peri Apex.

Him: Hi.

We shake hands.

Me: Your dentist has asked me to evaluate three teeth on the bottom that have had root canal work. Apparently you need some major restorative work done on them and there’s a question of whether or not the root canal status is stable.

Him: Yes, but let me ask you a question first about teeth that are impossible to freeze. One of the teeth that I’ve had a root canal on is impossible to freeze. At least 4 dentists have tried, but none of them have been able to get it numb and they all start off by saying that they’ll be able to achieve what the previous dentist wasn’t able to. So I had to have general anesthesia to get the root canal.

Me: Yup, sometimes teeth are difficult to numb up because of things like anatomic considerations or nerve inflammation in the tooth.

Him: No, this tooth doesn’t numb up.

Me: Well lower molars can be especially difficult to get fully numb.

Him: No, it was an upper tooth.

Me: Oh.

Him: My lip and cheek and gums were all numb but not the tooth.

Me: Getting teeth that are that sore fully numb is a challenge sometimes.

His voice now starts raising a notch.

Him: No, the tooth was not numb at all.

Me: The tooth was probably a little numb, just not enough to work on.

Now he sits up straighter, voice raises another notch.

Him: No. No. The tooth was not numb one bit. The dentists have told me all about where the nerves run, how they are supposed to be frozen in specific places, but I have a medical condition that prevents that particular nerve from getting affected by anesthetic.

I started raising my voice now because this silly, pointless conversation is dragging out too long. It’s not even one of the areas I’m supposed to check out.

Me: Have you had trouble getting frozen anywhere else?

Him: No, the condition is just with that one nerve in the area there.

Me: Someone told you that you have this medical condition?

Him: No, I know I do.

Me: What’s it called?

Him: I don’t know what it’s called.

Me: So how do you know that you have a medical condition?

I now realize that we’re both really getting pissed at each other.

Him: Because I’m telling you this is what happens when anesthetic is used on the tooth!

Me: How can you say that you have a medical condition like this when you don’t even have a name for it?

He looks at me with this incredulous look now.

Him: What are you talking about? There are lots of medical conditions without names.

Me: Well anyway this conversation is pointless because I’m looking at different teeth today anyway. They shouldn’t have a problem numbing up better if they need work.

Him: No, you don’t get it, the tooth didn’t numb up at all!

Me: The only way you can tell me that the tooth was completely unaffected by the anesthetic was if they tried to drill into it without freezing, then froze you up and then drilled into it again.

Him: Well it was not numb at all.

Me: You know, we’ve got lots of theories about teeth that are resistant to anesthetic; things like pH imbalances, receptor up-regulation, central facilitation and neuroplastic changes that affect receptive fields, but not one medical condition that describes one tiny, single nerve bundle to a tooth that is completely resistant to anesthetic.

Nodding the “whatever” nod at me.

Him: Uh huh.

And so the entire waste of a consultation appointment went. My insight into his argumentative nature became more detailed during this exchange:

Him: What forms of sedation are available here?

Me: Laughing gas, with freezing of course; a pill with or without a little bit of laughing gas; IV sedation via a dental anesthesiologist.

Him: Is freezing included with the pill?

Me: Yes, it’s included with all the sedation modalities. Don’t worry about freezing it’s a given.

Him: But you said laughing gas and freezing, you didn’t say it with the others.

Me: Don’t worry, no matter how deeply you are sedated, you’re getting freezing.

Him: Because of my subconscious maybe feeling stuff still?

Me: Yeah.

Him: Is General Anesthesia an option, do you do freezing with that?

Me: Inhalalation anesthetic is not an option here, but you would get freezing with that too if it were.

So…please do me first and make it quick before he needs to come back for work in that upper area where the medical condition lies.

Written on the referral slip that arrived with this patient was a note from their dentist, “Please perform apical surgery.”

I suppose the dentist was concerned about the post being irretrievable. My concerns were the probable coronal leakage that was causing the apical lesion and the fact that apical resection of the root would put me up against the end of the post — leaving me in a difficult position for a retrofilling. Apical surgery will not hold up against coronal leakage in a predictable fashion.

Assuming that the dentist could do a crown with a decent coronal seal, why not take the post out and retreat the root canal work? Retreatment would offer a more predictable solution for the tooth.

Ah, but a deep screw post like this is quite daunting to remove. We worry about the risk of fracturing or perforating the root.

Here’s what your average neighborhood endodontist should be able to do for you:

Microscopes, ultrasonic instruments, and training allow us to deal with cases like this in a conservative, predictable fashion. Orthograde retreatment of cases like these are viable options and should be presented to patients. Jumping straight to the surgical option is a disservice to your patient.

Update (August 14th, 2008): Here’s the post-op film:

It’s Canada Day here in Canada! Is that redundant?

Anyway as long-time readers of my blog have come to understand, I need to be supervised on the weekends — especially on long weekends. Self-injury is one of my problems.

This weekend was no exception.

Instead of me taking it easy and enjoying all of the sights on our place:

I decided to dust off our bicycles and adjust the brakes. After I was finished adjusting my brakes, I took the bike out for a test ride. Everything checked out well going uphill. I turned around and started on my way home — downhill.

The skid mark is the only evidence of my accident.

Cruising downhill, wind blowing by me, the bike felt good. Back brake felt good, front brake felt pretty responsive to light pressure.

It was as I was testing the front brake that someone who doesn’t know any better ran in front of the bike. My reaction was to squeeze the already-squeezed front brake harder. The reaction of my newly adjusted bike was to stop the front wheel without question or hesitation.

I know that my lines weren’t great, but I think I might have pointed my toes as I did a somersault over the handlebars. Mediocre dance form that was.

I’m now the owner of a modest case of road rash. I don’t have Bandaids long or wide enough to cover the scrapes, so DentalInsider suggested that I use Maxipads to cover them. Good suggestion, but I’m not sure how to get them to stick on. This will be maybe yet another use of duct tape.

Moral of story? If you’re masochistically inclined, know that softened water on open wounds is the same as salt water on open wounds.