Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dentist?

Yesterday I went to the dentist’s office for a cleaning and checkup. This would not be in any way noteworthy had it not been my first dentist visit in 4 or 5 years. You see, when I moved to Rhode Island, I was nervous about picking a new dentist. Then I got pregnant and had a baby. Then I got pregnant again and had another baby. I used my pregnancies and the resulting busyness as an excuse for not going. And over the years I became more and more afraid of what problems a dentist visit might uncover. I became convinced that the dentist would first yell at me for waiting so long and then make one or more of the following pronouncements:

  • Your gums have receded so much that you need several rounds of extremely painful surgery.
  • Uh-oh. Someone needs a root canal. Wait, make that two. No, three!
  • You have such a bad case of gum disease that all your teeth must be removed immediately.
  • One of your teeth is infected and the infection has spread to your brain. You will probably die.

But amazingly none of those things happened. The hygienist said my gums are pink and healthy. The dentist said I need a couple of fillings replaced, but that’s just due to wear and tear, not negligence.

Huh. So no brain infection.

All that worry for nothing.

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2 Responses to Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dentist?

  1. sprite says:

    Congratulations! I’m glad your brain has not been taken over by tooth-/gum-eating germs. Because that would’ve really sucked.

  2. chick says:

    Thanks, Sprite. It really would have sucked!

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