Dental Paradigm Reversal
April 19, 2007 by John in Health-Medical, Ranting and Whining
Did I miss a memo? It’s been a few years since I had any drilling done at the dentist’s office. Today I had two fillings replaced. The needle and the drill, often the most feared and anxiety-making part of the process, were a breeze. A little topical anesthetic, needle goes right in, no problem. I think the anesthetic itself must be improved. I remember getting occasional little spikes of pain while the drilling was going on because the Novocaine didn’t “take” 100%. None of that this time.
The filling process, on the other hand, sucked ass. A big wedge to pry the gum out of the way, a big clamp around the tooth, toxic-smelling filling material (I still have a whiff of that crap in my nostrils), etc. And they cure the fillings with light, blue light. I remember the blue light from the last time but it still freaks me out. Then there was scraping and shaping and grinding to get the filling to the right shape.
Then I get back to work and I’m sipping on my now cold mocha, and my right upper lip is feeling swollen. Initially I dismiss it, assuming it’s part of the numbness. But then I start feeling around and sure enough, the dentist left a big ol’ chunk of gauze in my upper lip. That’s great…