Dentistry

Between one thing in another, it had been a year since my last dental cleaning. The hygeinist nearly always compliments me on how well I clean my teeth, but it doesn't seem to matter much. No matter how well I floss, I get cavities between my teeth. I'm a bit fed up with it, frankly. This runs in my family. My grandma had all her teeth pulled when she was 30. My mom has more crowns and bridges than actual teeth. And today I had four fillings.

Three of them were in the same place, so a single numbing shot took care of them. One was on the top of the same side. By the time they finished the three on the bottom, the numbing on the top had worn off completely. I felt it when they wrapped the metal clamp around the offending tooth and braced myself. Yes, I could have asked for more numbing, but they were almost done. When the doctor started drilling and hit a nerve, he could tell that I felt it and stopped. I waved him off and mumbled through the dental dam that I didn't want any more numbing. That was...interesting. It hurt like hell for maybe thirty seconds, pause, another spurt of pain, and then a few twinges while they were finishing up. But thirty seconds of intense pain is preferable to several extra hours of numb mouth. (My mom would disagree; my dad would agree. *shrugs*) Oh, and the bottom part of my mouth is still somewhat numb. I don't know how common this is, but the numbing has always worked better and lasted longer on the bottom jaw than on the top.