The Dreaded Dentist

I'm not scared of the dentist per se, but I certainly do not enjoy the appointments. Between the prodding and the scraping and the whole keeping your mouth open for too long, it's a little annoying. Plus, there's always the possibility that he tells me that I have a mouthful of cavities or I need a root canal or something awful.

Last week, I finally went in for an appointment. I haven't been in to see a dentist in an embarrassingly long time. I'd give you a firmer date than that, but it's truly longer than I care to share. I actually don't even remember the name of the last dentist I went to see because he retired shortly after my first and only appointment with him since he retired shortly thereafter. He was one of the best dentists I've ever been to and I was sure I wouldn't find a comparable one with the same type of chair-side manner. My work has dental coverage and it covers two cleanings per year, which I haven't exactly been using recently. So I finally broke down and made an appointment with the dentist my boss goes to. He was raving about how great his dentist was, so I figured, why not?

As soon as I entered, I was greeted by name. I've never even been there before! It was a nice touch and also helpful that the women were so cheerful. After another nice woman took my x-rays, the head honcho came in to talk about them and poke around my teeth with the sharp pokey thing...otherwise known as an Explorer or Probe. I was holding my breath (literally) and staring up at the ceiling trying to distract myself by counting the holes in the ceiling tile. After an eternity, or a few minutes rather, he was done and gave me the verdict.

I need to have my teeth cleaned and have three small cavities filled. He's more concerned about me getting my super strong, healthy teeth cleaned than the itsy bitsy cavities at the moment. I'm not really concerned either way. I'm not particularly looking forward to any of it, but it needs to be done! Better step it up on the flossing in the meantime.

xoxox

kk