On teeth

Well, I had my dentist appointment yesterday.

There's a reason you're supposed to go on a regular basis, but I like to play with fire, apparently.

On the little information sheet you fill out for a new patient, I put N/A next to the question about your previous dentist. And on the one about your last dental visit? Pretty sure my exact scribble was "maybe 3 years ago... ? :)"

Yes, that is a smiley face in quotes. I guess I thought it might help.

So other than having two sets of braces and having my four front baby teeth pulled with what were basically dental pliers, I've done pretty well in the teeth department. No cavities. Nada.

Until yesterday. Dun dun duuuun.

My friend Amy was my hygienist, so we basically chatted it up the whole time, and at key intervals, I would casually ask her if she thought I had any cavities. Her answers got a little dicey when they somehow switched my x-rays with the previous patients', who was not exactly a stellar dental patient, either. Only this guy really needed to see a periodontist, and was fighting it big time. Amy said they were all sweating bullets during his appointment. Yikes.

Anyway, once the doctor came in, he quickly confirmed that #2 and #15 had small cavities. Boo!

So I put on my big girl panties and asked if they had time to just get it done today. Why come back and further my dental humiliation?

So we switched rooms and got started. Frankly, I really had no earthly idea what they were going to do. I was kicking myself for not googling cavities before the appointment. It wasn't too bad. The worst part, for me, was just trying to hold my mouth open so wide for so long. I could literally feel my cheek start to quiver. OH. And I was starving. Since I had to brush before leaving the house and had another errand to run before this appointment, it had been hours since I had eaten anything. And here we were, almost 2 hours into this ding dang appointment.

Finally we were done, and they said the numbness should wear off within an hour. Okay, fine, but what about this horrendous taste in my mouth??

Well, to get right to it (since this has to be the longest post ever on a dentist appointment), the numbness did NOT wear off in an hour. Of course. Two hours later and my left cheek was still tingly and I felt like it was spreading up and down my face. Awesome. Oh, and did I mention I was starving!?

So we finally get some dinner and two bites in and I freeze. Yep, pretty certain I just chomped down on the inside of my cheek. Affirmative. Couldn't feel it so much as I heard it. GROSS. A quick peek in there and all I see is blood and cheek that now looks like hamburger meat. Double gross.

Finally around 9pm, I thought it had worn off enough to reheat dinner. It went okay, I just basically chewed everything on the right side of my mouth.

So what's the moral of this story??? Well, crap, I don't know! Go to the dentist, maybe? Although this isn't exactly a story to sell someone on going, if they haven't in a while.. (side eye at you, hubby).

So what's your teeth story? A mouth full of perfect pearly whites? All dentures? Please share and make me feel better about poor little #2 & 15.