Possible side effects include Drilling

So I've spent the last 5 out of 7 days at the dentist.

No, not the whole day... geez.

Here's the thing, I hadn't been to the dentist in about 10 or 12 years. I know, I know that's really bad, and I should have gone more often etc. etc. And I'm not going to start making excuses for why I didn't go, but the thing of it is, at least I finally did.

And what an interesting, though somewhat terrifying, experience it has been.

The checkup was fine, the dentist poked around in my mouth for a while, they did some x-ray's pretty standard stuff. Nothing to worry about. Until they told me I had cavities. Fortunately they were very small and had not progressed to the point of being painful. Yay no root canals!!!

I went for the cleaning, and wouldn't you know it, it was incredibly enjoyable. I got to sit in a massaging dentist chair. For a whole hour. It was awesome. By the third day I was feeling much better about the whole experience. So I went for my first session of drilling with minimal terror. They used some topical anesthetic and then injected me with the local anesthetic. Which hurt. Quite a bit. Now I've never been frozen before so I had no idea what it was supposed to feel like. Apparently it's supposed to feel frozen. Who knew?

So, needless to say it hurt. However I didn't say anything as it wasn't unbearable. Just incredibly annoying.

Today I went in for my second set of fillings. The dentist went through the same procedure. Gave me one needle and 10 minutes later came back to check on me. She started poking around, which I still felt, and then decided I needed another needle. No problem, maybe this time it will work. 10 minutes later she started drilling. And let me tell you, the freezing had definitely not taken. I let her go at it for about 5 minutes and then I simply couldn't take it anymore and started crying. Ya, laugh all you want. It was then she decided I needed yet another dose. And it sort of worked, it was still tender, but most of the sensation was gone. And seeing as I am writing this 7 hours later it would seem that I survived more or less intact.

Now the moral to this story is as follows; pay attention to your family history. Had I bothered to make some inquiries I would have discovered that most of the members of my family are highly resistant to anesthetics. And had I known that I could have told the dentist that we could have avoided a painful, though humorous, situation.

Will I go back to the dentist? Of course I will, I rather like my teeth and would like them better if they were in good repair and all still in my mouth in their appropriate spots. Also, word to the wise, take care of your teeth. You only get the one set, and fixing them is way worse than brushing and flossing everyday. Plus toothpaste comes in all sorts of wonderful flavors.

But don't eat it.

That's bad for you.

Peace.