WHAT'S MORE FUN THAN A TRIP TO THE DENTIST?

image from padresteve.wordpress.com

Well, yesterday was certainly a fun, interesting, majorly sucky day.  I had a dental appointment at 9:40, which was supposed to last two hours.  They've decided that one of my older crowns wasn't fitting right anymore, which meant it could allow decay to get in.  Since I'd had a root canal done on that tooth, and it no longer had any nerves in it, I'd never know it was having problems until it just broke off, so they needed to re-do the crown.  Fine.

Now, I've had a lot of dental work done over the years, and I don't think anyone would call me a sissy.  I put up with an abscessed tooth for months during college, had impacted teeth removed without sedation, and have more crowns and root canals than I can count.  My only problems are that I have a fairly strong gag reflex, and one time, 30 years ago, when one dentist tried giving me nitrous oxide, I went straight from stone cold sober to pukey sick.  Just like I do when I drink.  Which is why I don't drink.  Or use nitrous oxide.

Anyhoo, for some reason, all the crap they had to put in my mouth yesterday before attempting to remove the old crown -- from the giant rubber block to hold my teeth apart, to the irrigator and other things that were pressing against my tongue, and the clamps holding the taut rubber sheet that was meant to keep flying tooth shards from going down my throat -- managed to set my gag reflex going something fierce, which in turn, sent the pinched nerve in my neck into spasms.  In mere seconds, this girl was reduced from notorious stoic to sniveling tiddy baby!

After a good bit of pleading, my dentist and her assistant managed to convince me that the dentist of 30 years ago just hadn't administered the happy gas correctly, and I really needed to give it another go.  She also gave me a valium tablet to dissolve under my tongue, and called my hubby to tell him I'd be needing a ride home in a couple more hours.  I never got "happy", but I was a little more drowsy and relaxed.  Also, I still gagged when they put the big rubber block in (my mouth just doesn't stretch that far!) so she made do without it.

The bad news?  I didn't get outta there until 1:30 or 2:00, and once she finally got the crown off, she was of the opinion that the tooth wasn't really worth saving, and that I should go straight for the $5,000 implant -- which my hubby had done last year, and just recently remarked "I don't think I'll ever do that again!"  On the up side, I've discovered that NO+Valium is my new best friend!