I laid flat on my back looking at the TV screen suspended from the ceiling, trying not to think about what was going to happen, trying to find a TV show that wasn't too intense or gory for me. I settled on "Say Yes to the Dress" and watched the closed captioning while I waited for the dentist to come into the room.
For two years I had been putting this appointment off. My only remaining wisdom tooth had nothing below it to bite onto, it was now interfering with flossing. It had come in twenty years ago, not impacted but facing my cheek. Now it was getting harder and harder to clean and threatened to cause a cavity in the tooth next to it. It was time.
Needles and I are not really good friends. It's been a hate-hate relationship ever since I was born and someone jabbed me with needles in both my feet while I was still in the hospital (ostensibly to take blood - the sadists!) But my dentist is pretty good, very easy to talk to, and he is the absolute best at giving needles. Still, I was apprehensive about that part of the process. I started repeating the Serenity Prayer. And reminding myself that I had asked for this extraction and it was too late to back out - and it was really for the best.
I had a couple of people I trusted, praying that I could get through that first five minutes with the dentist.
It went great! He put this pink gel on my gum, applied it with a Q-tip and left the Q-tip there - which numbed the injection site before he put the needle in. And five minutes (and two injections) later (neither of which I felt) ... the tooth root, my cheek and even as far forward as my nose ... had already started to freeze.
Ten minutes later, he came back in and put some more novocaine into the "neck" of the tooth. I felt NOTHING. About a minute later he reached in with this little tool and told me that I'd feel some pressure. I did - it was weird but not painful. Talk about slick - in less than 30 seconds the tooth was out and the assistant was already packing gauze into my cheek! No muss, no fuss.
"It'th gawn?" I asked through the gauze and the freezing. "Yep! just like that!"
I asked to see the tooth.
It looked so tiny!! I could see where someone had previously put in a filling ... it must have been several years ago because it was that gray amalgam material.
Even though the whole procedure was painless - really!! - I was a little shaky as I made my way to sign the insurance forms with the receptionist. But that shakiness soon passed, and in the car as my husband drove me home, I caught a glimpse of myself in the visor mirror. I couldn't help myself - I laughed - and the way I looked when I laughed made me laugh even harder. Hubby turned to me and he saw me with this lopsided grin - he couldn't help himself either.
When I got home, I decided to take a photo of myself (this is a mirror image so is pretty much what I saw in the mirror coming home!) - the freezing still in effect and gauze stuffed into my cheek. ;D
It amazes me that I spent so much time thinking about this whole thing when it was such a simple procedure - truly it was "much ado about nothing."
It's such a small thing in the grand scheme of far more important and life-altering things. But I am grateful. Grateful for the miracles of novocaine and of that lovely pink gel we used to call Anbesol (teething gel). Grateful that my dentist is such a great needle-giver. Grateful for the prayers of folks who care; my fear level was not nearly what it once was for something like this. Grateful that God isn't too busy to care about even such a small thing as this. And grateful that I have a caring family and loving friends.
For two years I had been putting this appointment off. My only remaining wisdom tooth had nothing below it to bite onto, it was now interfering with flossing. It had come in twenty years ago, not impacted but facing my cheek. Now it was getting harder and harder to clean and threatened to cause a cavity in the tooth next to it. It was time.
Needles and I are not really good friends. It's been a hate-hate relationship ever since I was born and someone jabbed me with needles in both my feet while I was still in the hospital (ostensibly to take blood - the sadists!) But my dentist is pretty good, very easy to talk to, and he is the absolute best at giving needles. Still, I was apprehensive about that part of the process. I started repeating the Serenity Prayer. And reminding myself that I had asked for this extraction and it was too late to back out - and it was really for the best.
It went great! He put this pink gel on my gum, applied it with a Q-tip and left the Q-tip there - which numbed the injection site before he put the needle in. And five minutes (and two injections) later (neither of which I felt) ... the tooth root, my cheek and even as far forward as my nose ... had already started to freeze.
Ten minutes later, he came back in and put some more novocaine into the "neck" of the tooth. I felt NOTHING. About a minute later he reached in with this little tool and told me that I'd feel some pressure. I did - it was weird but not painful. Talk about slick - in less than 30 seconds the tooth was out and the assistant was already packing gauze into my cheek! No muss, no fuss.
"It'th gawn?" I asked through the gauze and the freezing. "Yep! just like that!"
I asked to see the tooth.
It looked so tiny!! I could see where someone had previously put in a filling ... it must have been several years ago because it was that gray amalgam material.
Even though the whole procedure was painless - really!! - I was a little shaky as I made my way to sign the insurance forms with the receptionist. But that shakiness soon passed, and in the car as my husband drove me home, I caught a glimpse of myself in the visor mirror. I couldn't help myself - I laughed - and the way I looked when I laughed made me laugh even harder. Hubby turned to me and he saw me with this lopsided grin - he couldn't help himself either.
It amazes me that I spent so much time thinking about this whole thing when it was such a simple procedure - truly it was "much ado about nothing."
It's such a small thing in the grand scheme of far more important and life-altering things. But I am grateful. Grateful for the miracles of novocaine and of that lovely pink gel we used to call Anbesol (teething gel). Grateful that my dentist is such a great needle-giver. Grateful for the prayers of folks who care; my fear level was not nearly what it once was for something like this. Grateful that God isn't too busy to care about even such a small thing as this. And grateful that I have a caring family and loving friends.
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