The Dentist

I know there are worse things in the world than The Dentist...though not when you're sitting in the chair, white-knuckled, with freezing air and ice cold water blasting into your mouth by the sadistic dental assistant, the drill whining in your ears, and agony ripping through your head thanks to The Dentist. And that was just yesterday's experience..!!

About 3 weeks ago, while walking Ozzy on a very bitter, windy day, I had one of those inexplicable moments: one minute I'm just going along, no worries, and with the next breath I'm nearly brought to my knees with that horrible hot/cold sensation in one of my back molars. As it was truly cold, my nose had already started running (never do I have a tissue..!!), so breathing through my mouth was not an option once the stabbing tooth pain started. I tried breathing through just one corner of my mouth (opposite the pain side), but after several odd looks by other dog walkers I decided looking like the Joker with a stroke was not going to work. Eventually I wound my wool scarf around my head, which helped, though for the rest of the walk all I could think about through the pain was the dreaded call to The Dentist.

I got an emergency appointment (a miracle in itself), but my regular dentist was on holiday, so I saw someone else. She was very nice, though all she said was I appeared to have a fracture in the molar and would have to see my regular dentist next week. I spent that waiting week living on Ibuprofen instead of food. It was just astounding how quickly I went from totally fine, to absolute misery in just one breath..!! At one point my husband was hiding the pliers as I was crying and moaning, and seriously considering DIY dentistry.

So. The next week I get in to see my dentist, who is a credit to the profession and someone I like very much. She finds not one fracture, but two..!! One in each of my back molars. Cripes. I have a major tolerance for Novocaine, so 4 shots later, I am barely numb when she starts drilling. Honestly, I could have ripped off both armrests with my superhuman strength, born from the pain of it all. She gets all the filling material out of both teeth, puts in a temporary, and tells me to come back in two weeks for the real fillings, though she said within a few days I should feel better. HA. Bits of the temporary fillings fall out within a few days, and I am again reduced to Ibuprofen rather than food. No relief in sight, constant pain, and I'm starving to boot..!!

Yesterday, my appointment finally arrives. I was very much dreading the whole experience, though wanted to get things fixed in a major way. I went in early to get the Novocaine, sat in the reception area for half an hour waiting for the shot to work--and don't even get me started on how much I hate that gigantic needle coming at me at eye level, looking like something from a horror film...eewwwww. You could get people to confess to anything just by waving that wretched syringe in front of their faces. The Inquisition has nothing on modern dentistry..!! 45 minutes, and much white-knuckled agony later, I finally have two perfectly repaired molars. They look beautiful, like two brand new teeth, and though I was in a daze from the Novocaine and laying down in the chair, and trying--and failing--to meditate myself away from the experience, I had such a sense of relief that the whole trauma was over, I floated out of the office and home.

I would love to say I am now pain free, and feeling like a million bucks with my two new teeth, but as soon as the Novocaine wore off last night, I was back to throbbing pain and misery. I really expected this, of course, considering how my jaw was torqued, my mouth stretched, and my teeth tortured. I am just crossing my fingers that once everything settles down, I'll be good as new. I live in hope. And now, excuse me, but it's time for my lunch: two more Ibuprofen...sigh.