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| Laurence Olivier, Marathon Man 1976 |
Today we went to Bath for a routine dental appointment. I have been dreading the visit and for the last two days I was experiencing an awful sense of foreboding. For several weeks I have been getting a sharp pain in my upper molar when I chewed on anything so I had already convinced myself that this visit was going to ultimately result in further appointments for root canals, fillings, etc. I was filled with trepidation when we set off this morning. (I kept thinking about poor Jennifer at Sparrow Tree Journal and her dental stories.)
Prior to seeing Mr Smiley I had to have my teeth cleaned by Beth, the hygienist. I usually get a lecture about tea and red wine staining my teeth. Sorry but I'm not going to give up my cups of tea. Or my red wine. Although not painful this cleansing is akin to some medieval water torture. She was very thorough as she attacked my plaque with the high pressure water jet. Then she stopped. A pause. A nervous cough. “Oh dear, some of your tooth has just broken off. Never mind,” she added cheerfully, “you’re seeing the dentist next.”
Actually she had done me a favour. Mr Smiley agreed that the pain was probably caused by the cracked tooth. He has skilfully repaired it with some cement and glaze and now I’m as good as new. No injections, no fillings. I felt like I was floating on air as we left the surgery.
This is too good to be true. I haven’t tried eating on that side of my mouth yet, I’m too nervous in case it still hurts!
Spare a thought for me having had braces fitted last week. Yes at my age!
ReplyDeleteI think you're very brave.
DeleteI am so happy for you Sue! I'm on hold with dental appointments at the moment because of treatments but, when I eventually do go to my dentist, I think it's going to be a nightmare...
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
I'm sure you will be fine Maria but wait until you feel strong enough to go.
DeleteOne of my grandmothers was a dentist,but still i am so afraid every time i have a visit to the dentist.
ReplyDeleteI wish my grandmother had been a dentist, perhaps I would have better teeth now. My grandmother, who looked after me when I was a baby, used to feed me sweet, condensed milk!
DeleteWhat a bit of luck that you went to the hygenist first.
ReplyDeleteFortunate indeed, she did me a real favour.
DeleteI'm so glad things were better than you expected! I get really anxious before going to the dentist these days because of bad experiences over the last year or two. Thank goodness my latest problem is finally getting better!
ReplyDeleteMy current dentist is first class but I've had some horrendous experiences in the past. I shall always be anxious about dentist visits. I know you've had a really rough time recently, glad to hear you are on the mend.
DeleteI am frightened of going to the dentist. I can't even talk about it.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. Paul doesn't understand my fear.
DeleteDon't we always imagine the worst case scenarios! I used to live in fear of going to the dentist and getting needles when I was young. Thank goodness dentistry has gotten better over the years. Now I am just looking for a new dentist because our previous one got bought out by some company and it seems they are always looking for ways to make more money from you. I'm glad you came through your experience well! Oh, and Marathon man? Awful scene!!!!! -Jenn
ReplyDeleteI think there was some very bad dentistry back in the 1950/60's when I was a child. Lots of unnecessary drilling and filling and very little preventative education.
DeleteMy fear of the Dentist has actually affected my life quite considerably. I shall say no more.
ReplyDeleteMy teeth are proof of the bad dentistry in the 50's, when I was a child. None of the local dentists would take children,(no idea why) so I was treated at the school clinic, where they just removed teeth, instead of filling them. You only went when you were in agony, and there was no such thing as regular six monthly check-ups. By the time I was ten I had no double teeth left, much to the horror of the first real dentist I went to. Even now, I hate going. British dentistry had (and maybe still has) a reputation for being the worst in the world.
ReplyDeleteHorrific wasn't it? I really envy people with strong, healthy teeth.
DeleteMe too. My husband had all his taken out years ago, so has lovely straight teeth, even if they do reside in one of those twee little plastic pots overnight !
DeleteSame for me. We were put right under with gas and teeth removed. No fillings were given as Coppa says. All dentists I have seen since those days have been horrified at the teeth I lost.
DeleteWho is scared of the dentist? Me! Honestly though, it's never as bad as I imagine. Even when I have had to have root canals, probably the hardest dental procedure out there, the pain was minimal. You always hear horror stories and nobody wants to really share a boring, pain free appointment, but thanks for doing just that, it lessons the fear.
ReplyDeleteEunice Greer @ Downtown Dental SC
I shall always be nervous about going to the dentist but I'm more frightened about getting toothache.
DeleteOh! Broken fillings are always a pain in the butt! One of our little ones experienced something similar some time back after eating some candy, but we were glad that our dentist took appointments on the fly. I hope the filling thing is all taken care of, and by the way I also love watching TV on my iPad!
ReplyDelete