Beginning Braces

I had another dental appointment last week I've been meaning to blog about.

It really shouldn't have been a big deal - it was just another cavity being filled. Due the fact that i'm EXTREMELY prone to decay, I've had dozens filled already. Although I've always been difficult to freeze and sometimes it wears off too early causing my dentist to only do a single cavity per sitting, it's never been this bad.

I simply wouldn't freeze. My tongue was numb. My lips were tingly. Hell, she gave me so much freezing i swear my eyeball was numb. But still, once she hit the deep bits of the cavity, i was jumping and yelping and otherwise in pain. It was easily my worst cavity ever, pain wise, and she had done all she could do. She hit all my "landmarks" with freezing, tried a couple different freezing techniques, and gave me way more than i'm supposed to get (at my request). But still, i was in pain. She had to finish really quickly while i tried to get through the pain (after the tooth is open and half done, there's not much else to do...). It's a weird feeling though, because i was partially frozen.. things will be going fine, i don't feel a thing, then she'll hit a nerve and *whammo*, i'm jumping in pain. When your dentist has a drill in your mouth, jumping is generally *not* recommended.

*sigh*... i give up.

The root canal was easier. It has to be because of the sedatives I was given to relieve the anxiety. It's been shown that severe anxiety has two effects: It blocks the brain from accepting the freezing of the nerves, and can cause what freezing that works to wear off quickly. (Sorry for the crappy description.. i'm probaly the only person with a science degree who has never taken a single biology course...)

Of course, each painful experience in the dentist chair makes the anxiety for the next trip even worse, which I suppose is what is making things get progressively worse and worse.

I have one more cavity (that we know about). And my dentist, bless her heart, has pretty much refused to fix it unless i try the sedatives again. Which is fine with me, except it's a pain in the butt to have to get a ride, and to otherwise write the whole day off.

This really does suck. I'd kill to have a "normal" mouth. I'm woking on it, but you can't change biology. (Can you?)