Dear Tooth Fairy, Please Bring Me a Pair of Prada's

One might think that having a son that is a dentist is great.  Well, now don't get me wrong,  it IS great BUT... I'm not really a fan of going to the dentist.  And unlike you might be thinking, it is not the sound of the drill that bothers me; it's the shots.  I hate needles,  but especially needles that are given in the mouth.  And that is precisely why I don't schedule my appointments every six months...or at least until my son became my dentist and REMINDS me nearly every time I see him (sigh...).

This story begins back in January.  Back when I cracked a crown off of a tooth.  I went to my son's office and asked them to pull up my x-ray (Mom of the dentist can do this...) so I could determine if that tooth had a root canal; you know, would it start hurting?  Indeed it did already have a root canal and I said, "Great!  Bye-Bye!"  The girl said, "Wait...Don't you want to schedule an appointment to have that taken care of ? "Ummm...NO!  No, I  don't".  And out I walked.  About eight months ago.

As I said, every time I saw my son, he would ask me when I was coming to have that tooth taken out and now it seemed that I would also have to have a bone graft in preparation for an implant.  OK...let's take a time out here.  For those of you who have read my blog for a while, do you remember the implants I had several years ago? (By someone else)  Yep...NIGHTMARE!  I was in NO WAY mentally prepared for having another implant (ugh).  However, he convinced me that this experience would be nothing like the last one.  And so I bit the bullet and made an appointment.

As that appointment drew closer, I grew more anxious about having to sit in the dental chair.  Things like:  How many spankings did I give him growing up? ran through my mind.  But once I make an appointment I don't usually cancel it.  So Friday I not-so-bravely walked in there, took my anxiety medication and waited.

Although there are televisions in each treatment room, I came prepared with my ear buds so I could listen to music, which would hopefully calm my nerves even more.  However, when it came time for "The Shot" I freaked out.  My heart started racing as I gripped the handles of the chair and squeezed my eyes shut.  "For goodness sakes," I told myself, I had given birth to four children!  But still...that needle.  As I got the first round of shots, I was pleasantly surprised that it really didn't hurt as much as my mind had convinced me it would.  Maybe...just maybe...I could do this.

Round two of the shots was a little worse since it was going to be an extraction and I could feel one side of my throat go numb.  And then the right side of my nose.  I was beginning to get a little drowsy by this time and laid back and closed my eyes as I waited for them to come back into the room.

By that time Hubby had arrived since I would definitely be needing a ride home.  He actually got his teeth cleaned while they worked on me.  The tooth had broken off and had to be cut out, but I was none the wiser until the next day.  However, it was about this time that I began day dreaming about the Tooth Fairy.  I know that sounds a little crazy but, you see, Parker Ann has recently lost two teeth and the Tooth Fairy,  of course, visited her with a little money.  But, I thought, what if there was an Adult Tooth Fairy?  Because, you know there could be (wink, wink).  And the Adult Tooth Fairy, of course, would bring adult treats.  Like designer shoes and clothes or perhaps even a nice piece of jewelry.  I thought of asking for the broken pieces of tooth to slip under my pillow that night.  But the medication I had taken sort of kept that thought only within the confines of my head and the words never came out of my mouth (sigh...). 

Whenever I went home that night, I went with only Ibuprofen for the pain.  And guess what?  I was pleasantly surprised that there was very little pain.  My son, who had continuously told me for eight months, that this was not going to hurt like the other, more complicated bone graft, was right.  There was not even the terrible swelling that I had before and I actually got to attend church on Sunday morning.  But still...I'm thinking about that Tooth Fairy thing and sure wishing that I had mentioned it; it would be nice to have a new pair of shoes.  Dang it; miss opportunity!  Oh well...maybe next time...