The Dentist Chair

Dentist appointments aren't my favourite thing. As a child, I had "soft teeth". That means that I had cavities in all my molars even though my mother was a dental hygiene fanatic. Back in the early 70s dentistry was primitive.....I know, not as bad as say, in the 20s or 30s or even the 50s but for a 4 year old, it was bad enough. The needles hurt and the drilling shook my little skull. To top it all off, I have a funny jaw....I can't open very wide, which always frustrates the dentists and it locked open once when the dentist was working on my back molar in my early 20s.

Dentistry has come a long way in the past few years. I had an appointment today to replace a silver filling in my bicuspids with nice tooth coloured filling - why didn't they think of that a long time ago? I can honestly say, it was pain free. The needle didn't hurt due to the numbing q-tip they rub the gum with, the drilling isn't nearly as bad with the new high tech (may I add, quiet) drills and I didn't even have to miss Oprah. I watched it from the comfort of my dentist chair with earphones. Even with all those comforts, my heart still pounds a little harder and my palms still sweat when I'm in that dentist chair. Old fears die hard I guess. I'm very happy with my new filling. A little less silver is always a good thing!