Morning denistry

After 5 hours of sleep, I went to the dentist this morning. At like.. 8:30? Who the heck invented such early dentist appointments? And do you know that they actually have them even earlier than that? Craziness.

It was only my second visit to this particular dentist- the first was for a "consultation." During the consultation they took some xrays (did you know that some dentists don't use film anymore? they have a device that is shaped the same as those little film pieces that go in your mouth, but they just move it around and take multiple pictures. and it pops right up on a screen behind your head!), they took some picture of my teeth (with a pen-looking device. actual pictures of the top of my teeth, so I could see what they were seeing), and measured the depth of my cavities with another pen-like device. There was also a tv on the ceiling. Craziness.

But back to today. I took my jacket off and sat down in the chair- just as I started to feel cold, the assistant immediately offered me a blanket. A blanket! And obviously I took her up on the offer. I snuggled up, watched some Today Show on the ceiling, and waited for the dentist.

My mouth has started to turn against me in my old age and suddenly I have 200 cavities every time I visit the dentist. Also, I've had bad experiences the last two times I had cavities fixed. I won't elaborate, but I now have a paralyzing fear of cavity repair. Hence, trying out a new dentist.. that turns out to offer.. wait for it.. air abrasion!

I had never heard of such a thing before the initial consultation. Since a few cavities were so shallow, they weren't forced to drill. And now that I've had 4 cavities taken care of with it.. it was not so bad.  No drill, no Novocaine.. I barely felt anything.. just a little bit of the sand shooting onto my tongue occasionally.

I still have to go back for 2 more cavities (and 1 broken filling redone) with Novocaine, drilling, and all kinds of advanced dentistry to help me not freak the F out, but.. at least it's not 7. Yet..