Another Day at the Dentist

I don't think that I know anyone who hates going to the dentist as much as I do. I'm not really sure why. I can't think of some horrible experience that has scarred me for life or anything along those lines to give merit to my fears. I'm pretty bad about going. I generally start getting stressed over it a week or so before my appointment. This usually leads to me cancelling and rescheduling a few times before I run out of excuses and finally go. I think the only reason the dentist puts up with me is the fact that I have brought in a lot of referrals. Most of my friends and family figure if I can find a dentist that I will actually go to, then my referral is better than anything you can get at 1-800dentist. I've sort of gained a rep. when it comes to dentist visits.

I went last week and had to have a cavity filled. My first cavity in over 2 years. While I was getting that one fixed the dentist noticed that I had a loose filling that really needed to be repaired. He claimed it was fairly loose and that it would be better for me if I came in sooner rather than later.

I had to at least give myself at least a week to get over the first visit, but I made an appointment to get it fixed a week or so later. I was convinced it wasn't that bad and that he was just trying to scare me into actually coming to my first scheduled appointment this time.
I was actually shocked that I didn't cancel the appointment. I did start stressing first thing this morning even though my appointment wasn't until 3:00pm. (Next time I think I'll go for a morning appointment)

All in all it wasn't quite as bad as I expected. I went equipped with my Ipod, headphones and a play list with loud music to try and drown out any drilling or at least distract me. Although I don't think that it is actually possible to drown out the drilling noise when it is physically in your head.

Evidently the dentist wasn't exaggerating about the loose filling. He barely touched it with the drill and the whole filling fell out. Guess it's a good thing I didn't realize how bad it was. With the way I can panic and stress over things I would have probably avoided eating or something until it was fixed. Of course I wouldn't have done the sane thing and just gotten and earlier appointment. It would not have been fun to have that filling fall out considering that it was my front tooth. I'm not a big fan of the redneck gaped tooth look.

It's all over now though. No more dentist until 2010.