When I made the dental appointment, I shared my Dad’s diagnosis and tumor location. They got him in immediately.

My brother takes him but they find that it’s just too painful for my Dad to have his teeth cleaned or take x-rays. The dentist refers him to a specialist and tells him most likely we are going to have to put my Dad under general anesthesia to clean his teeth.

When my brother speaks with the new Doctor, he shares our concerns with putting my Dad under general anesthesia. He asks if other options like “twilight” medications are an option. Apparently other options don’t work well on patients with dementia. They need to be in my Dad’s mouth for possibly two hours cleaning and doing x-rays. In this Dentist opinion, the other options are just not reliable.

So now, before my Dad can get his teeth cleaned, his primary Doctor needs to approve that he is healthy enough to go under General Anesthesia. Detoured. 

** Apologies, I’m trying to bring my blog up to speed with current events.