Pull that tooth

I’m bad. Well, no that’s not quite what I mean. I’m bad at going to the Dentist. I last went to the Dentist back in 2002 for an emergency cap on a tooth, but prior to that I hadn’t been since high school (about 10 years prior). Anyway, the long and short of it is that now we’re back in Dunedin I decided it was time to sort it out.

I had gingivitus - that’s gum disease - and it’s caused mainly by not brushing properly, or often enough. My gums bled when I brushed and they were red and puffy. I didn’t feel any pain though, but apparrently pain can be associated with gum disease. I’m now brushing twice a day with a soft brush (I figured a hard brush would be better because it would clean your teeth better but nope).

I’m at home today because I had one of my teeth pulled. It started hurting badly a couple of weeks ago. My options were to get it pulled or go for a root canal, and after the Dentist pulled the tooth he was relieved that he’d helped me make that decision as a root canal would have been very tricky (not to mention expensive). On the upside of the downside of post-local anasthetic, there’s no way that bugger of a tooth is gonna cause me any more pain.

But, over and above all of the details the scariest thing is that I haven’t felt a god damn thing in that chair, other than a slight twinge for anasthetic going in. Physically I’m quite relaxed in that dentists chair but the scary thing is no matter how much drilling or scraping and poking they do I don’t feel a thing *shudder*

Anyway, if you’re thinking that it’s time for you to make friends with your local dentist, go now, and remember that it is not acceptable for you to feel any pain at all. If you do, tell him/her to stop and give you more anasthetic.