The Diary of A Simple Man

Whew.

That was one of the best dental appointments I've ever had. Daily flossing paid off enormously; not only did I not need a root canal, but I didn't even have a cavity. The soft spot that the hygienist seemed sure would be a large cavity by this appointment had hardened up and remineralized, thanks to the fluoride rinse. The diligent brushing paid off too - my teeth had so little tartar that I was done in half the usual time!

What can I say? Whew! I'm definitely going to keep up with my new dental regimen. I only missed flossing on two nights in the last six months, and the results were simply great.

It's such a relief! I was starting to feel as if it didn't matter what I did, since no matter how much more often I brushed I kept getting new cavities. Now I feel as if I had some control over the situation. Yippee!

Three or four months ago my regular biannual dental cleaning was cancelled because some teenagers broke into the Blackstone water supply (you may have heard about that in the news).

Perhaps I should quickly remind you that I have something of a dental phobia.

The next available appointment was in August sometime. But they put me on a wait-list, too. So every so often, they call me when there has been a cancellation.

Since I work in Boston, and the dentist is near my home, I usually can't make it. But this morning Teri called me. The dentist's office had called her, and they had an opening for 8 AM tomorrow morning.

Saturday is normally Teri's morning to sleep in, but she told me she'd watch Sebastian while I had the cleaning done.

I got scared, and told her that I was too nervous to go, so I'd just wait for the August appointment. Teri was a little disappointed in me, I think - understandably - but said it was okay.

I spent the next forty-five minutes feeling sick to my stomach and wrestling with my fear.

Finally I screwed up my courage, called Teri back, and asked her if she really wouldn't mind watching Sebastian...because I might as well go get my teeth cleaned. She said she wouldn't mind, of course. So I called the dentist's office to confirm.

You probably guessed it: the appointment had been taken by someone else in the meantime.

Incidentally, I'm not afraid of the cleaning. I'm afraid that they'll find that I need root canals.

I survived. No root canals, no real pain (thanks to the nitrous oxide). I have one "tiny" cavity, but - and this is hard to explain - it's in my lower jaw, and not in the back, so that bothers me almost not at all. It's the back upper right that triggers all my phobias. Maybe that's because the Angry Dentist who put in a big filling there many years ago threatened me - in his angry way - with a root canal, because the filling was so big.

Come to think of it, a lot of the reason he was so pissed off was because I didn't let him yank my wisdom teeth, but instead had him fill a couple of cavities back there - which is, apparently, kind of hard to do. But this is 13-14 years later, and I still have my wisdom teeth, and they're fine.

In fact, both of my lower wisdom teeth had "compromised" areas last time, areas which they told me were likely to become cavities. I took their advice, used floride rinse and brushed those areas carefully, and was rewarded: those teeth now look "great".

I survived. I do have to go back to have that cavity filled, but I don't expect to be paralyzed with terror. Whew!