Tooth Says "Hello"

I was in the dentist's chair waiting for the novocaine to kick in, thinking those pre-dentist thoughts.

• A tooth is going to break off as he's working on it.
• He is going to drill through my tooth all the way into my brain.
• The novocaine is going to wear off and I'm going to feel everything.

Then I said to myself, "Ellen, dumbass, you've been going to the dentist for years and none of those things have ever happened."

Well, that was before the novocaine wore off in the middle of the procedure.  

If you are wondering, well, store this away for next time you are in the dentist's chair: when the drug wears off it doesn't hurt for long because you yank your entire body away immediately. 

"Oh!" the dentist said, "Did you tooth say hello? We'll just give you a boost." Like a bump, or a hit: all the druggie slang. But that shot didn't take immediately, so my tooth said "Hello!" again, and we had to wait a while longer.

This time before he started again he said, "Now promise you won't take a swing at me."

I said, "I can't promise you that." 

He was very delicate, tapping my tooth daintily with the drill about seven times before he put any muscle into it. It was over soon afterward, except for the drooling. I didn't get my face back for three hours after.

It will be interesting to see if I'll be more nervous next time or less. 

Comments

[KC]

That is fascinating to me, because when my permanent teeth came in, one came in defective - the molar's enamel didn't meet in the middle, so the dentist drilled and filled it. Without anesthetic, because he thought it wouldn't be painful. But at one point, it deeefinitely started hurting. But I was already so tense (dentist drilling, I hate it so much and also I do not want to move such that they accidentally hit another tooth or something), and then I was so afraid that if I moved, it'd be worse, that I froze in place hard and he apparently did not know that it hit until afterwards when I told him that he'd said it wouldn't hurt and it DID.

Either that or he caught that it hurt but that I'd stay still and he just thought it's be faster and less painful to finish it up than to do the whole thing. Don't know.

Anyway. Sorry your numb wore off, and auuuugh to all the imperfections in dentistry out there. (including the dentists who get annoyed with you because you're *still* not numb. I swear, this is not volitional, it is just the way things are, don't get mad at *me* the person who is *in pain* for the stuff not working correctly.)

But I should go to the dentist again sometime. Sigh.

[theQueen]

KC - That sounds like a nightmare. like those surgeries where people are paralyzed but awake.Also, i have recently discovered that the high pressure jet that cleans my teeth makes the same sound as the drill, so I have started lying to myself that he isn't drilling, he's cleaning my tooth off first. That lasts until i start smelling that burnt tooth smell.