Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I'm a little afraid of the dentist.


Yesterday I went to the dentist for a cleaning. A cleaning is fine. A cleaning I can handle. Next week, however, I have to go back to get a couple of cavities filled (does anyone know what an aclusal is? I don't either, but they said it a lot). I also have a cracked tooth that they're putting a crown on. Does anyone know how much it costs to get a porcelain crown? A LOT. Monetary concerns aside, let me tell you all the other reasons I hate going to the dentist.

1. They always try to convince me I should floss more.

2. They stick needles in my gums. Big needles.

3. These needles may deaden the nerve, but they can't stop me from hearing that drill.

4. Pressure. Pressure hurts.

5. The smell of bone and enamel being ground into powder. There is nothing worse.

6. Ground bone and enamel flying into my eye. This has never actually happened to me, but I'm sure it has happened to someone out there and that it was horrible.

11 comments:

robin marie said...

amen amen and AMEN.... not all the drugs in the world can take away the awful noises and pressure!!! and the smells... oh man i really hate hate hate dentists... i haven't been in so long i'm scared to go now.

Carlos said...

Worse still is the fact that they wear those gloves and then put them into your mouth. Then, if they need to adjust that annoying light, they reach up with the gloved hand and adjust it. Problem is, that they had their gloved hand with the last patient as well--and the last and the one before that! Clean gloves touching a light handle that has been touched by a gloved hand right out of someone's mouth! Am I paranoid or what?

Being a dentist has to be one of the most down-in-the-mouth professions there is.

Watch the light hand.

Aubrey said...

Sick! I never thought of that. Do they still do that mouth dam? The rubbery sheet that they stick in your mouth for some reason. I hated the mouth dam.

Summer said...

hey i was a dental assistant for a while and if they are any good and as paranoid as i was that room is super clean and germ free. they only use old gloves on you uncle carl. and aubrey the occlusal surface is the top basically where you do all your chewing. :)

Tiffany said...

Hey last time I went in to the dentist I had 13 cavities- yep, 13. I can definitely relate. There just isn't enough novicane to numb the sound of that drill.

Aubrey said...

Wow, I sure spelled occlusal wrong. I even googled it and saw an abundance of "aclusal" in reference to teeth. Rather than trusting the masses, I should've stuck to dictionary.com who would've asked me "Did you mean Accusal?"

Courtney said...

Am I crazy because I love going to the dentist and getting my teeth cleaned?

Aubrey said...

A cleaning is fine. A cleaning I can handle. Grinding down my cracked tooth and drilling in to put in a crown - that I could live without.

By the way, the cracked tooth is due to no fault of my own - it was caused by a silver filling I had as a kid.

Aubrey said...

I just noticed on my Sitemeter that people have come to my site after googling "aclusal" and "dentist crown". That's fabulous.

Aubrey said...

A little update regarding Carl's comment... I noticed they covered the handles of the light with plastic so that was nice. But then, after putting on his gloves, he turned on the light (switch not covered in plastic) and pulled the tray o' instruments over (also not covered in plastic). He then proceeded to put that hand in my mouth.

jillmaren said...

Funny...I just had the same thing done. Two fillings and a porcelain crown. Needless to say, I'm still trying to recover from the financial setback - and that's WITH insurance : (