Avoid Dental Problems

teeth three years ago (Photo credit: darwin.wins)
Ever since I was a small child living in Scotland I have suffered from dental problems. My first recollection of this was at the age of 4. I was laying in the back of my parents car, I had a fuzzy feeling in my head and couldn't feel my mouth at all, which was purpose-knitted by my Grandmother for the occasion....yellow and white, if you don't mind. I still have the scarf.

I digress. The next thing that I can remember was my Grandmother giving me a rather small but sharp-tasting drink. It turned out to be a 'hot toddy,' which is a Scottish term for whiskey, hot water and sugar. It must have worked a treat as the next thing I knew it was the next day.

The reason that I suffered dental problems at an early age was that my teeth grew very rapidly; so rapidly that I had my second set of teeth removed when I was 9. I can recall this dental excursion much more vividly. The dentist, in his wisdom, first tried dental braces. This had the exact opposite effect that he was after. Despite me being ever so pedantic with my dental care several of my teeth began to decay from the constant contact with the dental braces. I recall him clearly that my second set of teeth would have to be removed and that I would most likely have dental problems all my life. He was right.

After the removal of my second set of teeth and my almost phobic care of these teeth, I thought that I had my dental woes behind me. My dental woes stayed behind me until I emigrated with my family to Tasmania in 1979. To this day I do not know what made me do a complete turnaround with my teeth and totally neglect them. With the benefit of hindsight I consider myself extremely lucky. I did not begin suffering further dental problems until I was about 22.

The first dental problems that I began to suffer from were plain old toothaches; nothing that a couple of over-the-counter painkillers couldn't fix. As time progressed the toothaches incrreased in severity and duration. I the began suffering pain in my gums and in my jaw. If you take just one thing from this entry I would like you to go immediately to a dentist if you experience gum pain or jaw pain. Your cranial nerves are extremely close to your jaw area, particularly each side of the middle of your chin. If the pain is caused by infection it will quickly travel to the brain with a devastating or fatal effect.

Again, I digress. This first infection was the first of many to come. I refused to have teeth pulled out unless

it was under a general anesthetic. As time went on, fragments of my teeth began to fall out....and without pain. I knew that this wasn't good but pressed on. It became cyclical....Toothache, painkillers, antibiotcs, toothache, etc, etc.

The final crunch came in 2008. My entire left jaw was swollen out like The Elephant Man and the pain would have been enough to kill an elephant. I went to the local dentist, who is very good. He told me that removal of my entire top teeth was a 'must.' No questions asked. He took an X-Ray and on my next visit he pointed out previous infections by location and year. I was impressed. He wrote me a referral to a Scottish dental surgeon who travels over every 3 months. Luckily I was able to have everything arranged for 5 weeks ahead of that day.

Surgery went well and I made a quicker than expected recovery. There were 2 appointments with my orthodontist to adjust my full top dentures as shrinkage to my top palate hadn't quite settled down.

Having said this, I still have occasional pieces of dental matter pushing through my gum and it isn't 100% painless.

Despite my 'luck,' and that's what I call it, with dentures I do not recommend them unless your dentist deems them a 'must.'


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"...And The Sun Refused To Shine...."

Have you ever been in that hideously frustrating situation where you have everything at your disposal to record a song or piece of music but you don't have a song to write? The general reaction of most songwriters is to sit with pen and paper or at their computer 'willing' a song to emerge. This has such a low success rate that it's barely worth mentioning.

To my way of thinking every songwriter, or every person for that matter, is but a mode of transport for a sequence of lyrics, chords, emotions and arrangements to present themselves in the form of what we term a 'song.'

I have no way of proving this but it is my firm belief that everyone has at least one song in them. Some people have such a passion for creating a song that they go 'the extra hard yard,'....and then some....to make this happen.

Others, on the other hand, for whatever reason do not pursue this aspect of their psyche. I view this a a shame in many ways as so many people have so many songs or stories that come their way but are left to wander off, hopefully to some place where they can be transformed into a musical piece.

A song can be 'sparked' by the most unlikely source. It may be a transient image that becomes so firmly entrenched in the writers' mind that it will eventually come to fruition. It may come from a remark made by a friend, stranger, newsreader, etc. This doesn't necessarily that the writer will write word for word what they have heard. More often than not it is just enough to ignite what is already within the writer.

As writers continue pursue their craft they become more open to external forces and more flexible in adapting their internal notions.

When I first began writing professionally in the late 1980s I had a wealth of poetry stemming back to my days as a kid at school back in Scotland. I found this easy. All that was required was a few

tweaks here and there and finding the best key for our vocalist. This 'easy' phase soon became serious basically through life experience. As serious as it became I still found it easy. My songwriting only became serious in the sense that I was ever-conscious that my 'fresh' material was going to be heard by large audiences.

By the early 1990s my songs became, deliberately, highly politicised as there were some pretty heavy political issues going down in Tasmania at the time. They continued to be well received so I kept my technique the same. As time progressed and the political situation in Tasmania had pretty-well resolved itself I had no 'ignition.' I believe that it was around this time that I really began to fully learn about songwriting for a rock band.

From this point on I maintained my previous attitude to songwriting. I have never written for a target audience or written a song with the aim of pleasing listeners. If I like a song then I'm more than happy enough. The only obstacle that I encountered was getting the band to play a particular track exactly the way that I wanted it to be played, hence the fact that I write, record and mix all tracks myself these days.

Having a multitude of ideas thrown around about regarding how my song should turn out doesn't sit well with me. I've been accused of being stubborn and difficult to work with. I can wear that because such comments usually come from drugged-out 'try-hards' who can barely put pen to paper. I have also been accuse of staying in my 'comfort zone.' I see nothing wrong with being in my comfort-zone. Why leave it if I'm happy being there? Who knows that I may leave it tomorrow if I have an 'ignition' that calls for such a move.

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