Re: A sundry

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Wanted - Joint Dental/Emotional Labor Provider - Bonus Paid


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 1:14 PM
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My dentist used one of those on me once, and then didn't use it again the next time. I never figured out why.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 1:15 PM
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I can't handle the click the little machine that makes finger sticks for blood draws makes. I don't mind the poking or the blood but that noise does me in and I have to beg for them to take the needle out and just stick me with it or go for the arm and have extra. Luckily this doesn't happen much anymore.

I do have to go get a pregnancy test probably tomorrow or I won't be allowed to get my tonsils out next week. I guess they just trust me not to get pregnant before then, which they certainly should.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 1:26 PM
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Does "ultrasonic" have any meaning?


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 1:30 PM
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4: Vibrating at frequencies higher than humans can hear.


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 1:54 PM
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5: Then why do we hear them?


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 1:57 PM
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I signed 6 in ultravisual ink.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 1:58 PM
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Lower frequency components of the sound wave, or perhaps other parts of the device being jostled and vibrating at lower frequencies. I dunno. We can see the output of "ultraviolet" light bulbs because multiple frequencies are involved.


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 2:13 PM
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Maybe I have ultrahearing?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 2:13 PM
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9: Maybe you're a dog.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 2:20 PM
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On the internet, nobody knows.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 2:26 PM
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11: Exactly!


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 2:27 PM
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Just making things explicit.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 2:31 PM
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I'm on the ultranet.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 2:45 PM
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Our dentist and hygenists are old school, so much so that I don't think they have an ultrasonic cleaning thing in the office. Pick pick pick. They schedule a year out in pencil in a calendar book! They send bills on paper forms with handwritten entries! I love my dentist but he's aging rapidly. ms bill is actively in the market for a new one. Dentist, I mean.


Posted by: bill | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 5:49 PM
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I remember when my old dentist sold his practice to a younger dentist and the new guy brought in all this new technology- electronic records and scheduling and email/text appointment reminders, non-film Xrays, ultrasonic cleaner. Also after the cleaning they spray with this salty solution that I guess is polish or fluoride or something.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 6:04 PM
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the new guy brought in all this new technology- electronic records and scheduling and email/text appointment reminders

I'm sure I've complained here before about how my dentist merrily schedules away with their fancy electronic calendar while you are are lying in the chair looking up at the monitor. WHICH HAS THE NAMES OF THE OTHER PATIENTS IN EVERY TIME SLOT on the calendar. Talk about HIPAA violations.

Also, their e-mail/text appointment reminders come from a generic service that you cannot respond to, because in order to change/cancel an appointment you have to call their office during business hours. I get that people skipping appointments is a pain -- and they fine you $50 for not showing -- but there has got to be a better way.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 6:44 PM
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My dentist gives you warm lemon-smelling wet towels. It's really nice. She has just enough technology, and they do have an ultrasonic cleaner, but they don't go crazy.

I have an awesome Ukrainian hygienist, and she does a lot of manual cleaning in addition to using the electric thing.

Her Dad was a dentist, and she took over his practice.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 6:45 PM
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I'm sure I've complained here before about how my dentist merrily schedules away with their fancy electronic calendar while you are are lying in the chair looking up at the monitor. WHICH HAS THE NAMES OF THE OTHER PATIENTS IN EVERY TIME SLOT on the calendar. Talk about HIPAA violations.

My dentist does this too, and I hadn't really thought about the privacy implications before, but yeah, seems problematic. No ultrasonic cleaning thing, though.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 07-19-17 7:48 PM
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Oh my god stompy cab driver unerringly careening down streets blocked by construction and then he got stuck behind a fucking cable car my god they are on *fixed tracks* dude. I hate 16+ hour days. And is there a more excruciating task than rewriting someone else's shitty brief?

On the good news front kid has joined a fr union for lycée students. 😊


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 12:56 AM
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I can hear lots of electrical things -- switch-mode power-supplies, for example -- which drive me crazy. To the point that I'll walk around switching them off. Fridge compressors annoy me, too, although that's a much lower frequency noise.

I'm not sure you'd describe the sound as ultrasonic. It's somewhere up in the 12-16Khz range, I imagine, as my hearing tops out at about 17Khz, and this is definitely in the audible range (for me).

Anyway, I'm often surprised at how few people can hear them. It's not my imagination. My wife sometimes notices the same noises, although she's less continually aware of them than I am. But a lot of people just stare blankly when you ask if they can hear it.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 3:19 AM
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I'm sure I've complained here before about how my dentist merrily schedules away with their fancy electronic calendar while you are are lying in the chair looking up at the monitor.

There are monitors in the ceiling? And doesn't the bright light thing stop you seeing that anyway?


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 3:20 AM
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||

I just heard about the most brilliant dating app ever: the hater app. Find commonality around the things you hate.

https://www.haterdater.com

I wish this had been around when I was dating. It looks like they have some interesting data.

|>


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 5:37 AM
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I dislike the ultrasonic cleaner. I guess it's supposed to be gentler, since there's less prying and scraping, but it seems like the vibrations are more likely to set off a nerve.


Posted by: Yawnoc | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 7:08 AM
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You could think of scraping with the little wire-tool as "subsonic cleaning". Unless the hygienist has really fast hands.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 7:10 AM
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The opposite of ultrasonic cleaning would be infrasonic cleaning, which would generate a barely audible low rumble and make you feel unaccountably nervous (more so than you usually are at the dentist) and possibly make you think you'd seen a ghost.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 7:18 AM
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20: Saturday morning I was sitting on a long bus stuck on Market for like 15 minutes because it hadn't merged into the divided bus lane and needed to, but traffic from behind couldn't give it enough space to back up and correct. I saw at least two MTA employees besides the bus driver directing traffic so that it eventually managed it.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 7:30 AM
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27: Scenes like that have been all too common in my neighborhood, since part of Indianola Road is closed for bridge repair, and the buses are rerouted to Calumet, which is rather a tight fit for buses.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 7:47 AM
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27: the "genius" involved in getting stuck behind a cable car on a known and unvariable route at just shy of 1 a.m. still astounds me, at my desk again depressingly less than 8 hours later!

on the dental front, i need to reschedule a cleaning, i am always having to cancel and reschedule bc of work stuff coming up but also i admit bc i find my dentist's enthusiasm for my gum health somewhat alarming. i can get by with cleanings at long and infrequent intervals bc i am mildly fanatical about cleaning my teeth (it has somehow been incorporated into the larger picture of my fanatic skincare hobby) so that's good but means the dentists reliably enthuses about how healthy my gums are when i do show up to see him, which i find just weird. they very rarely break out the ultrasonic thing on me, just not worth it. light once over with the manual tools, dentist comes in and enthuses, i'm out of there.


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 8:24 AM
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I believe evidence is that regular cleanings might make your teeth look better but do not actually reduce future dental problems.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 8:26 AM
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(Just your teeth, dq. You've been in so many clinical trials!)


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 8:27 AM
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30: Really?! Flossing and brushing help, but getting the extra bit of build-up doesn't do anything?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 8:35 AM
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I think the ultrasonic cleaner is mostly to loosen tartar and plaque buildup; at least, that's how my hygienist explains it. It really does get shrieky--I can endure it, but they do most of their work with the scrapers.

It's a little sad that each visit they tsk the tooth staining, explain that it's caused by both coffee and tea. I ask if there's any technique I should deploy... nope, there's nothing I can really do. I'm not giving up several times a day caffeine to cut my every six month appointments by a few minutes... but somehow, it's still worth a cajole to them.


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 9:43 AM
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The cajoling is far more extensive when you chew tobacco.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 9:45 AM
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Here's what appears to be the best extant systematic review (Cochrane). Basically there hasn't been enough high-quality research for conclusions.

Evidence for flossing benefit is thin too - likely reduces gingivitis but not plaque, and no evidence on cavities.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 10:44 AM
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There was an episode of Person of Interest where the AI communicated to one character using a frequency that the other character couldn't hear. In the show, they really used a frequency that some people could hear and others couldn't. Sadly I couldn't, so now that the AI spam apocalypse is here I will be unable to receive instructions from our new masters.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 10:45 AM
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I once read that young people can hear sound in ranges that normal people cannot and that this fact was being used to try to keep young people from congregating in certain places.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 11:03 AM
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I missed responding to 1: it must be wonderful to be back in your house. Did they fix anything internally, or was it just a stilts (and related to stilts) operation?

How is the new under house space--tall enough to be useful for extensive storage? Is the extra stair height to get in and out annoying, or already not noticeable?

Basically, hooray, and hope it's even better than you'd imagined!


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 11:06 AM
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37: Here's a market solution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 11:09 AM
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Ugh. I haven't been to the dentist since I had cancer, and I've been putting off making an appointment. Granted, I've been spending virtually every day going to other appointments, but I should really get on this.


Posted by: J, Robot | Link to this comment | 07-20-17 12:56 PM
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