I will not deny that soda is bad for me. I know it is. The problem with quitting it right now is that combined withdrawal causes extreme stress on the body and is known for causing heart attacks and death. Due to that, I would rather quit smoking then quit soda as, until the chemical (caffeine or nicotine) is completely out of the system and withdrawals are over, the other cannot be stopped.

As for your statement of poor oral hygiene, I will state right now that it did not use to be that way. 12 years ago I stopped caring about my teeth and such. This was because of 2 factors. The first factor was that I was born without enamel on my teeth. This in itself is bad, but not extreme. For 25 years I brushed, flossed, and regularly used mouth rinse. It wasn't until 12 years ago that an oral surgeon figured out I had also inherited my fathers gum rot disease. This was determined because no matter what I did, my teeth still rotted and constantly broke apart. Even at that time, there was nothing that could be done and was told by multiple dentists at the time that none of the teeth could be saved. It was then that I gave up because there was no sense in caring.

As for my 'nutrition', I am a trained and certified chef. I only use natural, fresh ingredients in everything I make. I usually refuse to use anything canned as nothing tastes better than something made from scratch on your own. However, with all of the meds I am taking, it is not possible for me to drive 2 hours to the store for buying said items. So, I am forced to do my shopping close to home and all I have is a ShopKo, a store that does not carry fresh foods. I do; however, buy frozen broccoli every day and steam it until it is so tender it literally melts in your mouth. Considering I only have 2 teeth on the top that are able to be used for chewing, it is what it is. Once I have some dentures, I will switch back to my usual nutrition.

As for slow healing, the only part that is healing slowly are the two second molars, but they both have a hard shell on the inside of them, so that is most likely slowing them down. Also, as of today, all of the pain I had in any areas of my jaw bone are completely gone. I also had some more draining yesterday, which I will attribute to the clindamycin.

Now, regarding what you posted about the ADA CoE, obviously my dentist doesn't follow it. In fact, I went in there today regarding the issues and was told to come back tomorrow. So, yeah, even when they are open, they don't care about emergencies. And yes, I would find a different dentist if that was even an option.


EDIT:

Further proof that my dentist does not follow the ADA CoE. As I said above, I was told to come back tomorrow. So they obviously do not follow 4B but there is another issue now. I asked the doctor to provide something for the pain until then, after all, I've only been able to get 4-5 hours of sleep every day. I was refused and to make matters worse, the dentist called me up to tell me himself he would not give me any meds. Stated that the pharmacist informed him that I was flagged in the system as possible abuse. I find that interesting considering the only pain meds I use is codeine (which I only get 28 of and I have only filled that script 4 times in the past year) and that only works for my migraines (does not help with tooth pain in any way, shape, or form, even when I tried to take 3 of them. No effect). So, I decided I should go talk to the pharmacist about this and see whom flagged me so I could deal with it. Upon speaking to him, he informed me that he NEVER told the dentist such a thing and the only conversation he ever had with the dentist was to inform the guy that the perco he was prescribing could only be done with a physical prescription. This, at the very least, violates Principal Veracity section 5.F.2 and paragraph 4 of the Use of Opioids Statement, "Dentists are encouraged to recognize their responsibility for ensuring that prescription pain medications are available to the patients who need them". Then, to add to all of that, I get another phone call from the dentists office about an hour later with a statement saying, "The doctor has stated that he will only see you tomorrow if you are getting the rest of the work done at that time."

So, the doctor basically just a) flat out lied to me and accused the pharmacist of something he did not do, and b) refused to see me for an emergency issue unless I get more work done (guess he wants more money from my insurance or something). I really need advice on this one. Should I go ahead and let him do the work, or find someone else?