Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Stretched Beyond Limits

I went to the dentist this morning to get a cap. I have many caps in my mouth, so this is nothing news worthy.

However, this time was different.

First of all, he made it in his office today, so I don't have to go back in a couple of weeks for putting it on. This is a vast improvement because I don't have to screw up my courage and repeat a calming mantra for two different visits.

Second, he used a dental dam. Those are not fun. He had my mouth stretched in all kinds of directions and held that way with shiny, cold rods, all so he could get to that last tooth on the bottom left. It's a trade off--either I get tired of my mouth being forced open and breathing through my nose (thank goodness I wasn't having a bad allergy day) or I hold it open and feel all the cold water, cold air, and debris that flies under my tongue. Sucks either way.

But there was one way cool thing. He offers his patients a thing kind of like virtual reality head gear with goggles and headphones to watch movies or TV with. So, I have headphones to drown out the drilling and something to watch to keep my mind off of what he is doing. I watched HGTV instead of a movie. What if I had to laugh or gasp or something? I probably wouldn't do either with HGTV, so I figured it was a safe bet.

So, all in all, it wasn't such a bad trip. An hour and a half later, I'm done and sitting here typing away on this post and waiting for the anesthetic to wear off. I'm very tingly right now. Think I'll take some aspirin to get ahead of the aches to come. It's always so much fun drinking when half your mouth is numb. Where did I put that bib?

5 comments:

Chelle Y. said...

I wish my dentist had a way of distracting. Brendan has an appointment Friday, but my brother is taking him. I cannot handle another melt-down. Haha!

Jay said...

Good choice on HGTV over a movie. The most you would want to do watching HGTV is say "God that looks terrible!"

Betty said...

I still get the shivers when I hear people talking about their visits to the dentist. Hope you aren't too sore.

Anonymous said...

Well, this is a marked improvement over the previous dentist posts.

Way cool!

Tink said...

I need to find a dentist who has gear like that! The most "distraction" my dentist has ever allowed me is to stare at an old Garfield poster on the ceiling. One time I counted all his whiskers. That bought me all of one minute.