Well at least over some things. I don’t like burning myself when I’m cooking, and will use plenty of ice and cold cloths when I do. But I also hate going to the dentist. Always have, always will. And I’ve been there twice…in about a week.
Last Wednesday (I think) I had to get a chipped tooth repaired. Pretty sure my blood pressure was up a little that day, even though it really wasn’t a big deal. Except for the shot. Shots in your mouth are always a big deal.
So is getting a tooth pulled, my reason for this morning’s visit. And why I was completely stressed out and practicing relaxation breathing techniques from start to finish.
To explain my fear of dental work a little, medications that are supposed to numb you don’t work very well on me. And I mean none of them. For example, during my last C-section, I kept telling the doctor that something was hurting, and the only answer I would get to that is, it’s pressure. No offense but I kind of know the difference between pressure and pain.
He finally believed me when a nurse gasped and exclaimed, “Oh my God! She’s pulling her feet out of the strap!”
Not really supposed to be able to do that with an epidural I guess, but at least after that (pretty much immediately), the anesthesiologist adjusted something and all I felt after that was pressure.
Same type of thing happens with dental work. Of course I don’t wind up with a baby from that, thank goodness! But the Novocaine always wears off too fast and I’ve had some less than pleasant experiences because of it.
But now I have a new dentist, and I’m very impressed with her. Things went very smoothly last week with the chipped tooth. And she was very careful to make sure I was numb before pulling the one today. I mean really careful.
Granted I was concentrating on my breathing so I didn’t freak out and land on the ceiling, so my memory might not be 100% reliable, but I counted at least seven shots, given over a period of a good ten or fifteen minutes. And not surprisingly, the last one hurt the most…after all the rest had had a chance to work. As I gasped, and imbedded my fingers in the arms of the chair she asked,
“Hit a live one there?”
Um…uh-huh!
Then she said something to the effect that I must just be hard to get numb. I am so glad she realized that, and made the effort to make sure I was. Because I suspect that it would have been yet another miserable, painful dental experience if she hadn’t.
So all I can say here is…I truly appreciate my dentist!
Now if the rest of the Novocaine would just wear off (after going on 5 hours now), and I could quit biting down on pieces of gauze, my day would be just perfect. Kind of getting hungry after being up nine hours.
