Friday, December 21, 2012

She's baaaaaack...And all better.

Once upon a time, I had this thing with my dentist. He and I understood one another. He knew I'd rather have a baby without anesthesia of any kind than get my teeth cleaned, and I knew he would have the nitrous ready when I had to get a cavity filled. We were all simpatico like that.

He humored me, and I went every time I was supposed to go and we got along fine.

Sure it cost more but I am worth it.

But...

then he sold his practice and I've been procrastinating (only a little) meeting the new dentist. I knew I'd have to go in there and absolutely convince her that P is for Princess and not Pain and those crowns? Those are there because I'm dental phobia ROYALTY.

And I kept asking myself, what if the new dentist isn't patient. What if she's a no-nonsense type who will try to talk me out of getting my gums numbed before a cleaning because I should be a good girl and just suck it up.

What if she says no pain, no gain, like my personal trainer, and she just tries to power me through something traumatic. That's fine for my physical trainer, my therapist, my doctor, my OBGYN, and anyone waxing hair off any part of my body. Just rip off that BandAid. Go ahead. That's fine.

But TEETH, man. That's Chinatown. That's a special kind of nightmare because they're inside my mouth...

Whoever's working on my teeth is literally all up in my grill. They have their hands and feet and instruments inside my mouth and they're capable of unspeakable torture. They can make it so I can't talk and tell them something hurts. They can make it so I can't breathe.

And lately I've been thinking...what if my new dentist doesn't get why that makes my skin creep with gooseflesh as I break out into a cold sweat. What if she thinks I'm a BABY and should simply get over it.

Not everyone is like me, I know. Plenty of people go to the dentist. They don't like it, but they don't feel nauseated just thinking about it.

Of course there's therapy, but that costs a lot more than Nitrous over the long term and it takes longer and you have to really want to change...

As it turned out, I had to meet my new dentist yesterday, when I had to have a crown replaced in a rather urgent situation. She squeezed me into a busy day and listened to everything I had to say. Not only was she supportive of my many quirks, she let me watch Sherlock Holmes, Game of Shadows while she filled me with Nitrous like a Macy's parade balloon and fixed my problem quickly and efficiently.

Huzzah!

Headphones, Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, and enough pain meds that I didn't feel much of anything later, and Bob's your uncle, I'm ready for the holidays.

I guess there are plenty of times when I haven't made my feelings known because it's not that big a deal. I accept that  pain is a necessary part of life.

Still, I'm confident that in this one particular event (if I want to keep my teeth, anyway) I have to ask for what I need instead of avoiding the dentist either because I'm afraid to go, or I'm afraid to ask them to treat me like an unexploded bomb when I'm there.

I wish I'd known that when I was younger, I might be better off, tooth-wise now!

This is DAY Eight
of the GREAT HOLIDAY ZAMFEST!
what's in it for you?



Welcome to the twelve days of ZAMfest All you have to do is comment to enter the daily drawing and I'll pull a new name from the hat each night to win an ebook from my backlist. The TWELFTH day will be Christmas, that's when I'll put the name of anyone who leaves me a comment on all twelve blogs, into a drawing and one very lucky person will win the grand prize-- a $50 dollar Amazon Gift Card. If you're new to the ZAMfest, it's not too late to go back and comment on earlier blogs. Good Luck!

DAY Seven's winner is Suze! I'll be contacting you to see which ebook you'd like!

In the meantime, here's a little dental humor:

You'll have to click the link for this, because I couldn't figure out how to embed this without embedding the whole playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1phr_MLnIM&list=UU6Po3g-RWdzeOXcD2JnaOsQ&index=2

32 comments:

  1. Feel better soon - dental work sucks! At least we are all still here

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  2. Eek, hope its all ok for Christmas

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  3. Sorry about your crown...hope you feel better soon!

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  4. Good luck with the dentist ... my least favorite medical professional!

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    1. I think I was scarred by my dentist growing up who had midevil woodcuts of dentist prominantly displayed in the exam rooms ... the dentists who used big pliers while the paitents were held down by friends. (shudder)

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  5. Hope you are feeling better. :)

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  6. Hope your visit to the dentist went well.

    strive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com

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  7. Emergency dental is the worst! I hope you feel better soon!

    Barb - kayakinbarb at gmail dot com

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  8. I just have to say I am going to miss your guy with the santa hat when the 12 days are over!

    Glad your dentist listened to you and treated you with respect (and nitrous!). Hope you are feeling better soon.

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  9. I've always believed dental skill is about the same, it's the personality that matters. If you find a dentist you can click with hold on for life. It's hard to let someone you don't like poke around in there with pointy things.

    Issa
    cojazzchick AT yahoo DOT com

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  10. I'm with you, hate to go to the dentist, even if I stay numb for days with just Novocaine. Loved the U-tube vid. Glad you're all better for the holidays.

    abraalpacas at gmail dot com

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  11. Ohhhh, I have the worst dental phobia ever. I don't like my dentist at all (as a dentist, not as a person). My sons were much braver than I ever am (they both went this week to get a tooth fixed). I thought their dentist only dealt with kids, but she also deals with adults and has many who are phobic. I'm so switching over to her :P

    Erica
    eripike at gmail dot com

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  12. Oh, my! I hate going to the dentist! And I can still remember the pain after my impacted wisdom teeth had to be removed... Evil and they only gave me 14 pain pills! I hope you have a better time over the holidays!
    Juliana
    OceanAkers @ aol.com

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  13. Oh dear, I feel for you. My mother is the same. Just the smell of the dentist office and the sound of a drill make her nauseated. I think it's more common reaction than people think and many dentists understand it. It's good you found such one.

    0401romance(at)gmail(dot)com

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  14. I love LOVE my dentist...well, really I love my hygenist. He's the very best. But my dentist is really great, before I started seeing him, I saw his father. I can't remember the last time I was nervous going to the dentist...it's just another day with friends :D

    morris(dot)crissy(at)gmail(dot)com

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  15. My mom always played lots of Allan Sherman songs when I was little, though I never heard one quite that swingin'! Hope you're feeling better. My dental experiences have been mostly positive, though I had a wisdom tooth so large and impacted that I started to *wake up* while they were removing it...

    vitajex(at)aol(dot)com

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  16. I HATE!!!! going to the dentist. Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as you expected. :)

    aelnova@aol.com

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  17. Sorry about your dental trauma. I love how dentists display gleaming probes, knives, picks and scalpels, right next to the chair. Thanks, dentists! Feel better soon!

    brendurbanist at gmail dot com

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  18. I always have anxiety when trying a new doctor. You always want to have confidence in them and feel like they are paying attention to you, know what they are doing and are not going to rip you off.

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  19. Glad to hear it went well. It is so important to have doctors and dentists that listen to you.

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  20. I never thought of all that re: the dentist. And I'll be forgetting it as I have a dentist appt. next month!! :)

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  21. I hate going to the dentist. I think its the vibration of the drill that sets off instant panic.

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  22. UGH! I feel for you. I haven't visited a dentist in a while. The last visit was to clean inside the gums and that was NOT fun!! I hope all's well now for you. Happy Holidays!

    ~Rush~
    taina1959@yahoo.com

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  23. It's always a bit daunting to go to the dentist no matter how old you are. It's good to hear that your new dentist took great care of you.

    H.B.
    humhumbum@yahoo.com

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  24. Hi love Nitrous! lol ^_^

    penumbrareads(at)gmail(dot)com

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  25. omg.... I HATE IT.. huu... Dentists... I think they're the one thing health check up EVERYONE cringes to think about going to... lol.. I sure as heck do and I don't see that changing any time soon. lol..

    Gah! My first time seeing this I am so gonna back track.

    Please count me in!

    Judi
    arella3173_loveless@yahoo(dot)com

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  26. I, too, hate going to the dentist. I need to find one like yours!

    books2read69(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  27. I avoided the dentist for many years due to a combination of having one bad experience with someone who told me to that it didn't hurt, lack of insurance, moving, switching jobs after I had insurance, etc. But mostly because of the idiot who told me it didn't hurt. I finally went back, but it cost me a lot more to fix what my neglect had done. My new dentist is really nice and very willing to work with me on pain and budget. I like that. (still avoiding the doctor)

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  28. I can do without the nitrous, but except for that one thing I am right up there with you. Thank God for understanding dentists!

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    1. And that was me. I did annonymous since it's easier, but only if you remember to sign. LOL

      Margec01

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  29. I had to have a wisdom tooth pulled because it had grown semi sideways and was cutting into the side of my mouth. I had out it off because I was NOT I pressed with the thought of a giant needle coming at my face! The dentist was awesome! He used a numbing gel instead and gave me happy gas. Even so, I sobered instantly when I felt the pressure of the pliers as it gripped my tooth and yelled "I don't want to do this!" The dentist calmly looked at me and said, "it's out." Didn't feel an ounce of pain :-D

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