Friday, January 27, 2006
dentistry is violent
i had to have 2 cavities filled on thursday.i thought it was only one . . . but it turns out there were two. one on each side of my mouth. blech.
so, they put me in the torture seat and give me some sunglasses to wear. the dentist then proceeds to stick the longest needles EVER in my mouth . . . i later learned that dentists actually stick those needles all the way up into the spongey part of your masseter bone and inject the novocaine there so that the nerve root is totally numb (gross).
i NEVER take pain killers so this stuff works really well on me (thank god for low tolerance to pain meds).
however, they begin to drill. right away! of course, i flinch as soon as air gets into my tooth. and my dentist says "oh, looks like you're not quite ready. we'll give you half a minute for that to take effect." then they both walk out of the room . . .
what did you think? that i would be numb immediately???
they come back and start drilling again. and wham bam, thank you ma'am the filling is done in less than a minute. it was a really shallow cavity so it was no big deal . . . the one on the other hand however was in between the teeth so it was going to be harder to get to.
"have you ever had a rubber dam?" asks my dentist.
a rubber wha--? i think.
"i don't know" i reply, feeling a bit of tooth on my numb tongue and trying to get it out of my mouth before i swallow it.
so he explains it as they go. this would be considered torture if they hadn't numbed me first . . .
First, they take a clamp and stick on the rotting tooth (wiggling it around of course). then they take this 5 by 5 (ish) inch square of flat green rubbery stuff with holes cut in it for my teeth and stretch it across my mouth. they take floss and use the floss to shove the rubber between the teeth on the left side of my mouth (have you ever had rubber stuck between your teeth? ok, that sounded dirty . . . i guess i mean anything stuck between your teeth thicker than floss . . . it isn't comfortable). i am numb at this point, so i can't feel poain, but i can feel pressure and they are effing moving my teeth around in my mouth for crying out loud!
anyway, after this, they put a little wedge between my teeth to push them apart and then they took this circular clamp thing (like a springform pan for making cheesecake . . . only tooth-sized) and put it around my tooth and tightened it . . . if i could have seen what i looked like in the mirror . . . with green rubber over my mouth, black sunglasses on, four teeth sticking through the rubber, a clamp, a springfoarm and a wedge all sticking out of my mouth . . . ugh.
"can you breath through your nose alright?" my dentist asks.
it's a little late for that i think. i nod slightly. i can't really feel my left nostril actually because they put so much novocaine up there. speaking of which, he also put the needle between my teeth and shot some novocaine in there. that sure hurt (when he stuck the needle in my gums!)!
they proceed to drill and fill the tooth. this time i see chips of tooth flying out of my mouth. they use this big metal suction thing to suck all the tooth bits out of my mouth. they keep banging against my other teeth with all the stuff they are sticking in and out of my mouth. i want to say, "you are going to chip one of my other teeth!" but i can't move my mouth and if i could, it would just sound like "ooh aah goooeee ooo sshhhib uhn ah mah otsher teef!"
finally it's over and they yank the hideous rubber dam out of my mouth.
"don't eat anything crunchy for the rest of the day on that side of your mouth" the dentist/torture master says to me.
i wont be eating anything for the rest of the day at all i think to myself (that didn't end up being true . . . kristi let me have some of her award-winning chili later that day).
and they sent me home.
my smile was crooked . . . i was numb on both sides. i couldn't talk. or eat or smile.
the novocaine wore off in about 5 or 6 hours and man was i sore . . . even this morning when i woke up my gums were sort of angry. i think they changed the way my teeth sit in my mouth.
you know what else i hate? the sound of metal scraping against my teeth. those little pointy scrapy things they use to get plaque off your teeth . . . it's like fingernails on a chalkboard. ew.
in conclusion: i will floss every day for the rest of my life.
say it don't spray it 3:37 PM
11 i heard that
