This is a thread for ILXORS IN THEIR 50's

(My wife says it sounds like a listing for animal adoptions at the local shelter)

Healthy coat

Everything being said about dental routines and suffering is painfully OTM.

(I lost my mouth guard, in my own damn house, a month or two ago. No idea where it could be. So far my jaw has been OK somehow.)

(I'm with a large Northern California-based HMO group and they don't seem to do annual physicals anymore, I wonder if I should request one.. think my last blood work was maybe 2021?)

I have a few late 40's/early 50's buddies that totally are afraid to go to the dentist, even if they have insurance.. I'm like 'Just fucking go, get it over with, things won't magically get better'

I actually take pleasure in the misery of a dental visit, I didn't have any sort of insurance in my 20's which is precisely when we should all have universal dental insurance.. our bodies were healthy but our teeth were fucked

I let my dental health lapse twice and paid for it in money and pain. Never ever again.

Or: Andy OTM

I like getting the annual physical, not least because in good years it's the only time I see my doctor and I like her to remember who I am. And I like the labs and screens, just making sure everything looks OK. I even agreed to a separate preventive screening my doc recommended — a "coronary calcium score" — to check for arterial plaque buildup. Not covered by insurance, it's like $125 and I'm sure she gets a cut for the referral, but what the hell. I like to know what's going on in there.

I go to my doctor about four times a year but haven't been to the dentist in decades. Sometimes I worry about it but then I say fuck it.

I have been blessed with (mostly) good teeth, which aiu is party genetic and also breastfeeding can help? thanks mom!

still had a litany of horrors starting with braces, and I am missing a back molar currently cuz I cannot afford a $4K implant.

dental care is imho the starkest example of class differences in the US

really that should read:

"dental care/insurance is imho the starkest example of class differences in the US"

yeah, it's always baffling to me that the teeth were medically separated from the rest of the body many years ago: their own offices, their own insurance systems, etc.
Like what if we had to get podiatry insurance, or spleen insurance?

Dentistry wasn't considered a medical field until the late 19th century.

They're luxury bones. Only the rich and lucky are allowed to have them; if your teeth are in bad shape the assumption is that it's your own damn fault for not taking better care of them

Toothpaste is bone soap.

The fact that none of these manly-man grooming companies has yet put out a line of toothpaste called Bone Soap (or advertised toothpaste with "Polish Your Bones") is baffling to me.

'Hey fellas, get your chompers pumping with Axe BONE SOAP - now in Sinful Cinnamon Schnapps flavor'

yeah I could see that working

Would try White Russian flavored bone soap

'Super Whitening Russian', you mean

really that should read:

"dental care/insurance is imho the starkest example of class differences in the US"

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Tuesday, May 7, 2024 9:29 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

When I first went to my current dentist, it was for a dental emergency (filling fell out) AND I didn't have insurance. They were super nice about it and apologetic about charging me the cash rate, but then when we got insurance again through my wife's job suddenly they were VERY happy to see me because I was worth a lot more money to them. It's all so weird, what a dumb system we have.

whenever I go in for for a cleaning, I get a statement from MetLife - 'THIS IS NOT A BILL: You dentist billed $234 - we paid out $179 - you owe nothing'

It's all such a weird racket

My dentist has a weird scheme where they make me sign a sheet of paper listing what they're are going to do, how much insurance will pay and how much I need to pay. So I sign it and pay them then within a week I get a bill for, usually, around $500. I call them and they always say, oh don't worry about that. Umm okay.

this sooo true. also i hate making the extra effort to sit thru 15 minutes of phoneapp disclaimers and releases and pay obligations, being told "this pre-process will save u time!" then getting there and having to like, do what appears to be the same shit all over again.

this is not an olds thing tho. in a way it is i guess, because i am here on the olds channel just complaining like a fucking old. topicality is where u find it.

Thanks to Facebook I just found out I’m almost 10 years older than The Beach Boys when they released/filmed Kokomo. I thought those fools were in their 70s when that came out.

Spiritually, yes

I was lucky enough to see Blondie this past week. My 13-year-old son was with me. It struck me that I have had a crush on Debbie Harry since I was his age, which was . . . forty-five years ago.

Thanks to Facebook I just found out I’m almost 10 years older than The Beach Boys when they released/filmed Kokomo. I thought those fools were in their 70s when that came out.

― Esteemed character actress (sunny successor)

i see this as an unqualified victory

Yeah i was at blondie and my 20 y/o muso super nerd son loved it even more than I. With his youth insistence he dragged me up to about 10 ppl away from stage. that was useful.

when i was reminded post hoc she’s 78 i was pretty— i dint know how to be, tbh. I felt pretty god damned ancient.

Finally got that first shingrix shot this morning, definitely feel it. Just a little funky, like the onset of a cold. I hear the 2nd one is worse, I’ll find out in October.

They felt about the same to me but yeah, they were definitely more addling than the COVID shots ever were.

i got one at the same time as a covid shot. that was dumb

#2 was way worse for me, barely noticed the first

I was bummed to learn they don't last forever, maybe a decade

well hello all of you

I realized that I'm getting more choked up and teary-eyed over really sentimental, even mawkish things, I'm afraid I'm just gonna get more weepy as I get older

I was braced for my second Shingrox to be bad, but nothing. Makes me suspect I’m not really immune.

That’s my problem, I got the off-brand knockoff

That’s my problem, I got the off-brand knockoff

Hi Tracer! Welcome in.

Tracer, man of a half century. Or something.

Tracer! Welcome!

Welcome, Tracer. On the 40s thread, they talk about discovering Steely Dan. On this thread, we've been talking about D-Day and how you couldn't get away with doing that these days.

*high-fives Tracer, in a careful, non-bone smashing way*

Careful you don't pull a shoulder muscle either.

lol. everything hurts.

This week I listened to an R.E.M interview whilst wearing new-ish hearing aids and had a sentimental cry. Later I fell over in the shower and bruised my arm (and my dignity). I feel *peak 50s*.

lol and also ouch. The R.E.M. gushing has been nice, I have to say. I've especially enjoyed hearing from a lot of people about how much they meant in the South in particular.

saw someone online today who was perplexed that a double-LP set would have sides 1 & 4 on one record and 2 & 3 on the other

we are losing our vinyl lore

TBF that never made sense to me either. But I never owned one of the turntables that would make that useful.

but you get it

it was originally developed for 78 records, so you could listen to a whole piece of classical music with minimal interruption and no changing! you'd stack like 4 of them up together.

#old