Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Tooth Hurty

I had an appointment today for my regular cleaning, check-up and two fillings. Yesterday I called our favorite babysitter and after some chit-chat with her mom, told her I needed her daughter to babysit for my dentist appointment at 2:30. She snickered as she asked, "2:30? You have a dentist appointment at 2:30?"

I didn't get it. And the longer she held out, the more confused I became as to why 2:30 was not a good time to visit the dentist. She finally had to spell it out for me.

"Don't you get it? T-o-o-t-h h-u-r-t-y, you're seeing the dentist at 2:30!"

Evidently this is a common joke. I'm not sure why I hadn't heard it. But then again, I'm also the girl who spent years thinking Humpty Dumpty was just a round, porcelain man. After all, nursery rhymes are rarely logical (black birds baked in a pie) so how was I to know he was an egg!

I don't like going to the dentist. It's not so much "hurty", but the x-rays are so uncomfortable and the feeling of those metal tools scraping against my teeth gives me the willies. I am so much more careful with my teeth than Jon but he always walks away with a glowing report while I get the lecture on excess build-up and proper brushing techniques.

After the check-up I moved to a different chair for the fillings. I was bummed to find out that I had not two, but four cavities--two on each side, and they would only do one side at a time. I'd rather just get it over with. The dentist, who is a very nice man, was concerned about my comfort. That's nice and all but when I'm paying a babysitter and I'm going to be all numb anyway, let's just throw comfort right out the window and do all the drilling now! Oh well, there is less drool escaping the side of my mouth now as I regain feeling in my lips and there are certainly worse things than having make an extra trip to the dentist.

Right when I got home, Alyssa ran to me to show me her tooth. She's been so anxious to lose a tooth and it appears her wish is about to come true. After days of finding bloody tissue left all over the house, I'm ready for that tooth to come out, too! Let's just hope the Tooth Fairy can be a little more on the ball than she was with Caleb and not forget to stop at our house.


I guess it's a good thing I went today. I haven't had a filling in years and now that I've been reminded of the procedure I can better prepare Caleb for his first fillings tomorrow. On my way out of the dentist's office, I double checked on the number and placement of his cavities. He really is getting two, but not at 2:30.

5 comments:

jenny said...

I swear I am the same way with my teeth and Doug always has a perfect record. So not fair!

I haven't heard that joke in a while, that is pretty funny. Don't forget to tell the tooth fairy tonight about stopping by :)

Jackie said...

I wouldn't have gotten that joke either. I had to get a crown on a tooth a few year ago and I would much rather go through labor than do that again! I hate the dentist!!!

Anonymous said...

Jon must have gotten his dad's tooth genes, not my teeth certainly required alot of visits to the dentist.

Jen Childers said...

That's a funny joke, and I've never heard it either...even with all my new dentist friends! That's exciting about Alyssa...Jonas is still patiently waiting for any teeth to fall out. They still feel pretty in there to me.

Jenn said...

I totally relate to your last dentist visit!I'd never heard of the 2:30 joke either!I just had to get a filling repaired the Wednesday before our last Sunday in Bonn. I knew something was wrong because after crunching on some carrots in my eighth month of pregnancy, I started getting food stuck in my tooth and I was constantly flossing. Anyway! The dentist fixed it and I broke out with a cold sore two days later, just in time for our last Sunday at church. Let's hope you skip over the cold sore thing. Mouth trauma and stress are the magic ingredients for cold sores.