Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Nothing but the tooth

I'm having root canal ("endodontic therapy") tomorrow – surely these are words to strike fear into anyone of a certain age (those I've mentioned this to have all shuddered theatrically). My dentist, who appears to be in his late teens, assured me that it no longer hurts as they're better at the drugs now. The dentist visits of my childhood certainly inhabit a bleak place in my memory: agonising pain, endless bad vibrations, a never-ending desert vista of arid desert and jagged rocks. One dentist told me to stop being a silly cow, but only after my mouth was jammed with instruments, fingers, and the wet rubber sheet of a dental dam. The music playing in the background became the soundtrack to horror and the strains of Vivaldi have a sinister effect on me even now (bolt upright like a Brave New World baby subjected to an electric shock).

Perhaps I exaggerate for effect, and the current dentist does have a TV affixed to the roof for distraction purposes, although this is ineffective due to a combination of poor reception and Ellen de Generes; but I lie there, even though it's relatively painless, thinking of the torture scene in Marathon Man and waiting for it to be over.

4 comments:

Mancsoulsister said...

There is nothing better than fish for breakfast - and you are right Kedgeree is the jewel in the breakfast crown

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you remember having an extraction at the Dental hospital in Chambers St. You must have had an anaesthetic, and I fainted (probably the smell of the anaesthetic?) I think it was you, anyway.

I just signed up today as an NHS patient at a place called The Dental Lounge in Haddington - classy entrance and hotel-lobby reception. Goodness knows what the surgery and treatment are like!

Bobby Schaeffer said...

With today's technology, the pain that's usually associated with the typical visit to the dentist could be close to nonexistent. Consider that, plus the amount of distraction that the clinic could have like that TV you've mentioned.

LottieP said...

That may be so, "Bobby", but Knoxville's a bit far to go for dental treatment.