Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

tooth and nail

The past few days have seen plenty of dental penance on my part.

I hadn’t been to a dentist in two years. My last dentist seemed to glory in hacking at my gums, and part of me wondered if she wasn’t picking out “problems” to fix so she could get as much money as possible from my dental insurance.

But with mounting guilt and the added urgency of the wedding, I finally found a new dentist last month through the “Best Dentist” listings in Washingtonian magazine.

I finally went in for my teeth cleaning and dental exam yesterday morning. The dentist and the dental hygenist were super-nice, particularly given my two-year lapse in dental care (and the fact my stock answer to “Have you been flossing?” is the same as the answer I give for “Have you been going to church?”). The final verdict: three cavities, delivered alongside a stern admonition to floss nightly and use Listerine and flouride.

Thanks to a last-minute cancellation, they were able to squeeze me in at 8 a.m. this morning for my fillings. I saw the same dentist and hygenist, and they did a good job attending to my teeth and making sure that the new fillings didn’t cause any discomfort. The dentist was super-generous with the novocaine, though: Even though he said the effects would wear off within two hours, the right side of my face was still numb until early afternoon. (And even after sensation had returned to my face, I felt so tired and generally out-of-sorts that I left work early to sleep it off.)

Talking to coworkers this morning was an interesting challenge, as I struggled to enunciate despite constantly slurring over my numbed tongue; I was silently thankful that I didn’t end up being needed in a scheduled conference call. When lunchtime arrived and the numbness still hadn’t subsided, I went home and ate leftovers (mmm … Thai fried rice), rather than risk somehow embarrassing myself while eating in front of people.

Moral of the story: Brush, floss and get regular teeth cleanings, and hopefully I can avoid this in the future.