The people Trump has selected to work with… his lack of accountability to… the conflict of interest in his businesses and holding the office of President. Talking about not needing daily security briefings because he’s smart. Either Mike Pence is going to be the unofficial president (meaning Americans give the presidency to a man who was never officially on the ballot to become president) or Trump is about to run a gong show. But at least he has time for Kanye West… and at least the news media feel a Kanye/Trump photo op is real news (breaking away from other items to let us see them in the lobby of Trump Tower). It’s a real mess.
Christmas came early. I came home from work one day last week and there’s a package at my door. No labels on it, other than my name, so I decide to open the box… and inside… the Atari Flashback 7 I spoke of last blog entry. Since it wasn’t wrapped I figured I may as well go for it now. Thanks Sissy… I’m a kid again.
Dentist Horrors
When I was a kid, I didn’t mind going to the dentist. There was the rubber brush that spun around and tickled your teeth. I had an impression of my teeth done that I thought was the neatest thing. Bubble gum tasting fluoride. All no problem.
Even when I went to get my wisdom teeth pulled from my jaw… where they had to slice open my gums to find them down there… I wasn’t all that worried about it.
Then I went years with no dentist at all. When my parents insurance never covered me and my work had no dental plans included, I went about a decade in a dentist free world. And nothing went wrong. Not a toothache. Not a red gum. Not even a scrap of food stuck between my teeth.
With the move to Ottawa came a new job with dental coverage included. I figured “I may as well.” And I’ve been a regular dentist goer for almost fourteen years now.
And within those fourteen years, I’ve developed a fear. An irrational, but very real fear… of the dentist!
The first time wasn’t a problem. The dentist was actually shocked I’d gone so long without seeing anyone. My teeth were great. Even the cleaning didn’t find too much plaque buildup. It was easy.
But as time has gone on, things have slowly crept into the land of the uncomfortable. First there was a filling or two. No big deal. And they went without a hitch.
But suddenly, food was fighting back. Twice I’ve chipped teeth while eating. Once it was just biting into a fig bar. Then the freezing agent used for my fillings became less effective for me. Two fillings ago, it took almost an hour to get the job done. He’d start work and, within five to ten minutes, the freeze would wear off.
This is where the fear began. To have a dentist in your mouth, drilling into the hardest bones of your body… and suddenly you begin to feel it!
It got to a point where I’d be expecting pain. Tensed for it… my body a wooden plank stretched out straight across the gentle caress of the dentist chair. Only my head and feet touching chair… all the rest of me being stiff and raised several feet off of the cushioned faux leather.
Even a squirt of water into the freshly drilled cavernous hole would cause my arms to tense… my shoulders being able to plug my ears… while my fingers dug deep into the arm rests.
My last cavity, they gave me the heavy duty stuff. The freeze that’s meant for root canals… that’s what it takes to fill a little cavity for me now. And even with half my jaw being frozen for the rest of the day, I remain tensed in the chair… ready for every touch to be that one that breaks through the freeze… causing the pain to fire through my body. As with any good horror movie… it’s the anticipation that’s the worst part.
Today, the sun is shining. The snow in the woods across the street glimmers brightly… giving the world a wintery glow. And yet dread lurks. I have a dentist appointment.
It’s just a cleaning. No drills should find my mouth today. But even the cleanings have become torturous. Diamond lined floss slices open my gums… sawing deep into the crevices of my teeth… down into the jawbone until it finds the empty spaces… where once my wisdom teeth lived.
At least that’s how my mind plays out the experience. Long gone is the bubble gum fluoride. Mocking is the ticklish rubber brush. It just laughs at me in the knowledge of what is soon to come. The picks and axes and spears all lined up to probe my gum line. And the potential for a cavity to be found. Bringing the anticipation of another appointment of dread. Booked by pleasant, friendly smiles at the reception desk, as she wishes me a Merry Christmas while penciling me in for another appointment… with the dreaded drill of doom. Merry Christmas indeed.
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