I am, obviously. I have the worst case of dentist-phobia of anyone I've ever encountered. It all started in 6th grade. I was being fitted for a retainer, the object of which was to close the slight gap between my two front teeth. As the family sadist, er dentist, was perusing my most recent x-rays, he came to realize that my right eye tooth was still a baby tooth. Looking more closely, he saw that, waiting to come in above the baby tooth were two full-sized permanent teeth AND a stunted little miniature tooth. All retainer plans were put on hold and the experts were called.
The plan that ensued involved me having the baby tooth pulled and waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. There was just too much up there for anything to have room to come down into the space. Next, I visited an oral surgeon, which ultimately resulted in my having a huge hole carved out of my palate, from which were extracted the mini-tooth and the extra permanent tooth. The gaping hole that was left was filled with a plastic packing material until the exposed nerves were once again covered with tissue, and then the packing was removed--leaving me with, as you might guess, a gaping hole in my palate. But no, the fun did NOT stop there.
Next, the permanent tooth grew down into the now-healing gaping hole, whereupon the "difficult cases" orthodontic specialist my parents had engaged put a band around it (and all the rest of my poor miserable teeth) and over a period of three long, unpleasant (in my view) years, pulled that tooth from the center of the roof of my mouth up to the space it was meant to go in.
Needless to say, word quickly got out in junior high that there was this weird girl with a tooth in the middle of her palate, and I was frequently called upon to display my claim to fame, to the amusement of everyone except, of course, myself.
I'd like to say that this made me the most popular girl in seventh grade, but that would be a lie.
Is it any wonder I hate the dentist?
(P.S. They did close up that gap, though. I have the straightest teeth in town.)
13 comments:
My daughter had missing teeth. The second incisors. Went through two courses of braces, implants, failed crowns on the top of the implants, gum surgery to expose the implant which was drilled too far into her head to hold the crown,, now she is left with two mismatched fake teeth, but that's better than the metal stubs she had for over a year. I am telling you, when you have missing front teeth you automatically look like your IQ could be in the single digits. (I put universal dental care right up there as part of universal health care. A person with big ol' cavities in their front teeth simply isn't going to get jobs that folks with decent teeth get. You can have rotten lungs, and no one sees it, but by gosh, you better have decent teeth. Just my opinion) Hope your dental visit went well.
It was fine. I was just replacing an old, ill-fitting crown. (Naturally,I still hated it, though.)
However, I agree completely about the teeth thing. People see teeth problems and they assume that you are uneducated, backwoods, impoverished, the whole list. Teeth are, in this country, what accents are in England--the ultimate indicator of class.
i agree verb. my family was middle class by our home town standards but pretty poor compared to the rest of the state, but one thing my mom did was force feed us those little pink flouride pills and we'd starve if we had to in order to go to the dentist for cleanings 2 times a year and the all important flouride treatments.
my sisters and father had teeth that would seem to rot out no matter how much brushing and flossing they did. I have never had a cavity (baby or adult) and i probably never will thanks to decent genes and my mother's fettish with dental care.
My last year in college, i went home to my favorite dentist for a check-up and he had an intern who took care of me. She didn't believe that I was from the area because my teeth were so beautiful, she even asked if she could keep my x-rays to put in the "good" side of a portfolio, i told her to knock herself out.
When that lottle boy in MD died from a cavity 2 years ago, i was so sad and angry. if your teeth hurt, you can't learn and everything hurts. that boy should be the poster child for the seflishness and evil that often goes on in politics.
Jilly
Believe it or not Verb, my right eye tooth is still a baby tooth. And, my secondary eye tooth came down in the spot next to it where, for some unknown reason, there was no second tooth to come down when the baby tooth fell out.
So I have an adult eye tooth right next to my front teeth and a baby eye tooth right next to that one. It's very loose, and I know it will be falling out one of these days then I'll really be stuck!
Oh, and I have a fear of the dentist too, because we were very poor growing up and I used to have to get cavities filled with no novacaine. I have a wonderful hygentist now who knows of this fear and is extremely careful when working on me.
Schell, my dentist said that the whole extra teeth thing is a very, very common abnormality, affecting maybe one in five people. Your story makes me wonder what would've happened if they'd just left that baby tooth there and spared me the whole freaking ordeal!
I still have a baby tooth too, but the rest of my teeth are about the same size so I often forget which one it is. They kept telling me it would eventually fall out, but it seems to be holding on quite nicely thank you very much!
bah on you people with extra teeth! mine were too large for my mouth and I had to have 8 teeth pulled and one just-ingrowing adult tooth cut out of my jaw--when I was 9! Now, I have 8 less teeth than the normal adult :(
Dentists are of course evil.
One evening at the mall I was approached by an older lady with a clip board. She asked if I had time to take a survey. I apologized and said that I did not. She grabbed my arm and said that all she needed to know was what kind of toothpaste I used. I told her that I didn't use toothpaste. She pointed to me with her hand out, palm up and said "You must use some sort of toothpaste." I gently grasped her hand and spit my upper denture into her palm. "No," I said, "I do not use toothpaste." I picked up my teeth and put them back in and walked away.
And she promptly quit her job and never went back to that mall again!
:D
P.S. All joking aside, I am SO glad to see you, Pete. What's new with you and Sunflower?
Friend Verbie,
Nothing really new, we are doing just fine. And you?
Nothing new at all, Pete. Just the way I like it. I've never been a big fan of new. :)
Post a Comment