I Meet A Dentist

Trips to the dentist are not nearly as frightening today as they were once upon a time. “Painless Dentistry” is even almost true. But ths was not always the case.

My first trip to the dentist, at least the first one that I remember, was quite scary. Here these people plop you in a big chair, shine a light in your eyes and start poking around in your mouth.

At least they didn’t wear masks back then to keep their identity secret. They claim they wear masks today to protect them against germs and infections. I think they actually wear masks today to protect themselves from retribution.

After the dentist and his assistant finished poking me in the mouth with a sharp instrument and scraping away in there, he said I had a small cavity and that he would have to remove the decayed matter and then fill the hole. But it wouldn’t hurt. He would give me an injection first so I would not feel anything. When you are young, you tend to believe grownups but you soon learn that maybe you shouldn’t.

He stuck me in the mouth with a looong needle and injected me with something. He then left and said he would be back to check on me in a few minutes.

Well, he came back a little later and asked me if my mouth was numb yet. I said “no” so he left. He came back again and said, “Is your mouth numb yet?”. I said “No.” again.

We went through this check a couple more times with either him or his assistant coming in to ask the question. After almost an hour of this he decided he better give me another shot.

After a bit he came in and said “Are you numb yet?”, and I said “No. What’s numb?”.

After he said a few more choice words he finally went to work on me. That is when I knew he was lying all along and probably just kept sticking me with the big needle to take my mind off of what was to follow because it really hurt!

Filed under: Life Counsel • The Early Years

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