I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE!

I have see the future, and its in my mouth!

Remember, how the dentists used the sticky material to make a mold for a dental crown or  prostheses? They then sent it to a lab, and after waiting for it for a couple of weeks, we had to go to the office a few more times for adjustments. I came in for such a purpose. Dr. Chan's second son (that's how he introduced himself to me) worked on me for at least an hour, using all the latest methods to minimize my discomfort. There was no pain! Then he said:

"I will now take a few pictures with this computer device and we'll                make your crown."

I was astonished: "How are you able to do it right here in the office?" He very calmly explained that, the computer will send the parameters of my crown to a machine, which then will make it.
"You mean... you use a 3-D printer?!!!"

They do! Amazing: in a small town of San Lorenzo, in the area of lower to middle class people, Dr. Chan is able to use such a revolutionary device! 

I hobbled (the knee is still acting up) to a small machine in the corner of the office. Its made so we can watch the process. A cube of pink material was fastened between two little drills. As the machine received instructions from the computer, the drills began to furiously work on a cube, being liberally sprayed with water. I was so excited, I could scarcely stand still and kept squawking and hop around, like a demented chicken. The staff thoroughly enjoyed this display for a while, then politely asked me to return to the room. 

And that was it! 

A little crown you see on a photo above was adjusted to my needs, then painted my color and baked for twenty minutes, or so, to make it hard and shiny. By the way, its made of the strongest stuff there is: porcelain!

This was the most amazing thing that happened in our parts this week. Other than that, we work and we play, as usual. The cats do their job: they sleep on every available surface in the house. For some reason, they prefer this multi-plug thingy to nap on. 

Does anyone have any idea, why this is so?

For Roberta's birthday we went to the IHOP on the 9th of March, because it was weekend. Yesterday, on the real date of her birth, I sent Sonny to buy her a cake and a card. We had a good time, celebrating!

Doesn't she look nice?