I am not a huge fan of going to the dentist, is anybody? Having someone poke around in my mouth with sharp metal instruments is not my idea of a fun filled afternoon buuuuuuut eventually you’ve gotta go, right? Right…sad sigh…
I haven’t been to the dentist since 2008-ish and when I did go it was for a regular check-up and cleaning, no biggy. But since then I haven’t had dental coverage and wasn’t interested in paying out of pocket to have a sadist cause me pain and discomfort lol The job I currently have has excellent benefits though, that kicked in at the three month mark, since I’ve been with the company 2 years (oh dear god, has it really been two years?? *shock*) I figured I might as well take advantage of having such good benefits and ya know, use em. Since I have no idea how to pick a good dentist I asked a friend of mine who has kids, which means she must have a dentist lol, and I was right, she does have a dentist and she recommended them cause she doesn’t mind sharing. Turns out her dentist isn’t one specific dentist but a large dental office, it is like nothing I have ever seen. It’s massive, and has an unknown number of dentists, and dental assistants and hygienists. I’m used to going to a small dental office where the staff has a low turn over and they remember you from the previous years visit and ask how classes are going, or the job, or how the bf is, or did I go on that trip I was planning last time I was there…really personalized. But that is not this place, though the people were very friendly so that’s nice. 🙂
I went last week for what I thought would be a simple appointment, a regular check-up and cleaning, oh and that gross fluoride stuff, ugh. This super friendly hygienist started using those super pointy metal tools of torture to do her thing but she went slow so she didn’t actually finish before my appointment was up, weird huh? The dentist came in (fyi, very yummy, I momentarily lost the ability to get words forming in my brain and am fairly certain I came across as an idiot, sigh) he did his thing and informed me that a filling I have had since the dawn of time has a crack and needs to be taken out and replaced and that I had a small cavity forming on a different tooth that should be taken care of now before it gets bigger.
Just. Great.
This means that my one visit expanded to 4. Four!! I feel like I should just move in there lol I was there yesterday and the dentist took care of the small cavity that just started forming. I thought they’d do everything at once but he says he likes to take things slow, not have the person in the chair for any longer than an hour so they don’t get stressed. I told him to do as much as he can in one visit, I can take it, he wasn’t convinced and the appointments have stayed spread out. I have another tomorrow, that’s the regular cleaning, and then one next week for the removal of the cracked filling and the replacement.
It was funny yesterday, they used so much numbing stuff that from just under my eye to my jaw was frozen, including my nose! I kept poking at the right side of my face cause it simultaneously felt like it was huge and felt like nothing at all. I had to eat before the numbing had worn off because I had to go to dragon boat practice, let’s just say I am oh so very glad nobody was watching me eat! lol I had to put teeny tiny amounts of food in my mouth, keep it in the left side, tilt my head back, chew and swallow. The tilting of the head was very important in this process because I was unable to keep food or liquid in my mouth if my head wasn’t tilted back. Oh, and when I went to the washroom there was food on my lip that I wasn’t aware of cause ya know, the lip was numb. Oh! And you should have seen me trying to drink water when on the boat during practice, at one point I dribbled water down my chin cause I just couldn’t keep it in my mouth, well, on the right side anyways lol Thank goodness the left side of my mouth wasn’t frozen!
So all in all the dentist visit is turning out to be an ongoing saga that I’m not enjoying all that much, except for the cute dentist that is! 😉
Oh, and quick tip, don’t get told you need to have fillings then go home and YouTube videos about how they are done, it just amps up your anxiety level before your own appointment. Oh, and don’t watch videos titled “6 Things You Didn’t Know About Dentists” before your visit either cause that won’t make you feel aaaaaany better. Did you know that one of those drill head thingys came loose and got lodged in someones lungs one time? Yeah…these are the things I was learning before my cavity filling visit…not wise!
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 