Dentists really do keep saltwater tanks - Frag Outpost Forums - Coral Propagation and Reef Aquarium Forums

EvilTwin · 03-08-2006, 08:52 AM

I thought I would share with all of you a funny (and painful) experience I had yesterday. In the end, though, all was good.

I have been starting to go to a new dentist recently. The selection of this particular office was more due to the fact that they take my insurance plan more than anything else, but we did get a recommendation from a friend as well. I went in for a cleaning a month or so ago and to get the full workup, turns out I needed a bit of work as I needed a crown for a tooth that I never had finished years ago, and they determined another tooth needed a crown as the filling had cracked. So they start working on all that and it turns out the tooth with the cracked filling needs a root canal, too.

After going in to get the root canal done, they could not get me numb enough to do things that day, so I get some antibiotics and we try again yesterday. We get started, things are better but still pretty bad. Apparently I have some strange nerves in my jaw or something but the whole procedure was extremely excruciating as I could still feel quite a lot. I can say he gave me enough anesthetic to numb a horse, but it just wasn't working with me.

So (now to the fish part) while I'm sitting in the chair resting for a bit I start thinking of Finding Nemo and the dentist as he was working on one of his patients. I sorta laughed and told the dentist what I was thinking of. The assistant said "noooooooooooooo...he's not like that". Remember this guy has been causing me excruciating pain through out the procedure. I asked him if he had seen the movie, he said "not in it's entirety". I told him he really must watch the whole thing.

It was at this point he went on to mention quite proudly "but what I'm really into is saltwater aquariums". Well, at that point we took a few minutes to talk about our tanks. He explained he had a whole fishroom at his last house, but he sold the house because he got divorced. He currently has a 200g tank. He then stated that what he was really into was corals, not fish. Well, now we had a bunch more to talk about. Obviously I needed him to finish my tooth, but he continued to ask me a few questions about what I had in my tank and when all was said and done, I had found a new aquarist friend.

I'll be heading back in a few weeks for the crowns and then some other stuff, so I'm sure we'll have more to talk about. Anyway, that's about it. I'm sure all of you can relate to finding other hobbyists in all walks of life.

FragOutpost · 03-08-2006, 09:48 AM

Eeek. I had to cringe for the first part of your story. Brings back memories of my last couple of visits to the dentist. Have you tried the laughing gas? Maybe that will help your sensitive nerves, but it can be expensive.

Anyways, that is cool that your dentist is into reefkeeping. Did he mention what kind of corals he kept? Too bad about losing the fishroom in the divorce.

FragOutpost · 03-08-2006, 09:52 AM

BTW - Nice Avatar!

Teeka01 · 03-08-2006, 10:03 AM

I feel for you I hate dentist and doctors they seem to be associate to pain. But at least there was a silver lining.

EvilTwin · 03-08-2006, 10:22 AM

He told me he had a leather coral that when he got it was smaller than his fist (average size). He said that now it would probably not fit in my 75g tank it is so big. Perhaps I need to point him here so he can learn to frag it.

He said his tank is 200g but only 4 feet wide. I didn't really get into much more. I'll ask him about lighting next trip.

Peterock · 03-08-2006, 10:40 AM

sounds interesting he might have a custom cube design around 4x4x30inch. Yes tell him to join the site

EvilTwin · 03-08-2006, 10:54 AM

He said his tank was much deeper, around the context of the length of the tank and my indication that my tank was 48x18x20, so I suspect it is a wide tank that is 4 ft long, but I don't know the depth.