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DIY tooth filling
Monday, July 28 2025
setting: rural Hurley Township, Ulster County, New York
I had a somewhat better day at work today because I managed to deploy a fix for a long-complained-about report for a client in Los Angeles. Then I continued my struggle with local database issues but made a little headway, so that counts as a win.
Last night when I was blasting my teeth with a waterpick (something I usually do before going to bed), I noticed a new sensitive spot in the wisdom tooth on the top left side. Today when I was eating a heated burrito at lunch and it twanged that same spot. Clearly something had changed, and further investigations revealed a large hole had opened up in the tooth, probably because the plug from a root canal had fallen out. My suspicions are that it was pulled out by the adhesive power of that fancy bagel I ate at the cabin Sunday afternoon. So at work today, I jokingly asked ChatGPT if it had any ideas for a material I could stuff in that hole if I couldn't get to a dentist immediately. I figured some nanny routine would insist that I make for a dentist immediately, but no, it turns out there is a product sold over the counter in drug stores for this very problem. It's a putty you form with your fingers and then pack into the space that had been occupied by a filling. It's engineered to chemically react with water to form a solid material in a few hours. I got some of this product (it was $5) at the Walgreens in Stone Ridge on my drive home this afternoon, along with a 96 count box of generic pseudoephedrine. I paid for it all with my new health savings account cash card. It's only supposed to fix a tooth for 48 hours, but I've had some temporary fillings in my mouth for years, so I am going to see how long it lasts.
After I'd refilled my tooth, I took the dogs for a walk down the Stick Trail. I lost them both fairly early in the walk, and it took them so long to return that I started getting worried and activated Charlotte's PitPat tracker. But ten minutes later it was still trying to get a GPS signal when Charlotte came in through the pet door, followed shortly by Neville. They were both exhausted and overheated (temperatures were in the low 90s), so they flung themselves on the floor in the semi-air-conditioned comfort of the house and panted intensely.
Meanwhile Gretchen had been dining with a friend at the Garden Café. When she returned, she'd brought a bean soup back for me. She wanted to go with me to the swimming pool at the end of the Farm Road, but I'd just been in a bathtub and didn't want to deal with mosquitoes, so she went alone. She actually drove there with the dogs in the Bolt for some reason.
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