My dental experience

Yesterday I went to the dentist to get a cavity filled. Boy was I in for a treat!

First my dentist comes in, big, tall, broad-shouldered, squared jawed. He was definitely a man's man, from just his looks. (really not a bad looking guy all told) But what really caught my attention was his somewhat bullying, persistent, aggressive and thoroughly alpha male persona.

First he tells me to open my mouth and say Ahh. He peers into my mouth and looks at the cavity and frowns. Then he says, "hmmm, THAT's unattractive." In exactly that cadence, and in exactly that emphasis. I looked at him somewhat speechless. I felt offended on behalf of my poor cavity ridden tooth. And I even briefly wondered if he just insulted my womanhood. Then I shrugged it off, I was being a nincompoop. He definitely was somewhat rough around the edges though. But by no means should I get my pretty little feathers all ruffled up, I decided there and then.

He proceeds to tell me that I have a HUGE cavity, the size of Kansas at the very least. And he's going to need to fill it with metal or give it a crown. I listened to him talk for about 2 minutes and then I asked him which one is more efficient. He cocked his head in confusion. I asked again, "which one would take less time?" He frowns and asks, "you seem to be in a dire need of expediency. What's this need for speed?" It was then that I knew, this was a dentist who likes to challenge you, he's not a Mr. Nice Easy going Fellow.

The other funny thing was that I kept trying to sit up and turn around to face him, I thought it would ease the conversation, as I was not used to talking to someone whom I had to look towards the ceiling to see. He keeps saying, "Oh, put your head and rest it down here, thank you!" In a firm, polite but still controlling way. I felt like I was grinding his gears by being so fidgety. He then asked me if I was always this energetic or if I was just nervous. By this time, he had stuck a lollipop of local anesthesia into my mouth and I was trying to talk with my mouth full. So I ended up saying, "I wus jusss nervosed." And he asked why. I said, "because there's usually pain involved." And he say, "okaaay, that's a fair answer." He gave me the impression of being a talk show host, he always has to say something in return.

But all in all, he turned out to be a pretty nice guy. He made sure I was completely pain free, by giving me extra shots of novacaine, even quizzing me on what nerves he was blocking, once he found out I was attending med school. Alas, I failed to impress, because i hadn't started my head and neck series yet. He also made sure I was able to see my cavity after he cleaned it out and it was indeed a big gaping hole in my tooth. He filled it with metal and then he asked me to bite down repeatedly to make sure I don't feel anything. He then had to file the filling in such a way to maximize my comfort. I walked away feeling like he was very competent and did a good job on my tooth. I know only time will tell if that's the case, but so far so good.

But it's just been really amusing for me too, that both dentists that I've had the pleasure of visiting in Philadelphia turned out to be such characters (see previous blog on previous dentist)