More Stories From the Past -August 28,2007

I'd like to tell you about my morning..unforthunatley I'm a little hard to unersthand...

Okay kiddies...let me tell you WHY it's important to floss. First of all - who wants to see someone walking around with things stuck in that person's teeth? No one...but the second reason is as follows:

Flossing can prevent cavities...


Oh, we've heard it all our lives, at least those who were brave enough to make it to the dentist at least twice a year, (I know what you're thinking, some of us were dragged - never given the choice) but sometimes, when you're told something so many times-it still doesn't compute. Now women, I know what you're thinking, "I thought only men were prone to this, 'you've told me 15 times but I never heard you' syndrome". It's not true (okay well, it's mostly true). And I'll tell you why, I didn't listen. Perhaps I should restate that and say, I never heard.

I go to the dentist twice a year, I brush my teeth and use mouthwash but flossing was never a priority. Oh sure, I get something stuck in my teeth and I use floss to get it out. But I wasn't what you'd call a daily flosser. As you all know, I got a new job about 6 months ago.(Okay so now it's been more like a year and 6 months ago...) Of course insurance came with the job so I went through the task of switching everything around. I learned that while I had dental insurance, it wasn't the same plan, hence, a new dentist. Now, I've had the same dentist for about 3 years (not counting time spent in the bush of West Africa) and my sister-in-law is a dental hygienist so I was used to the routine. I loved my dentist (as much as anyone can love a man - or woman - who digs around in your mouth and asks you questions that require paragraph answers while shoving three more cotton balls in your mouth - just to even out the baker's dozen that are already there).

I'm not going to mention my new dentist's name, though he's a nice enough guy and did a good job. This story is not about the job he did...this is about my inability to handle the numbing procedure and learning to floss.

A few weeks ago I went to the dentist. My first visit to my new dentist. I just needed a regular cleaning and felt pretty confident that I would be in and out in no time. The girl cleaning my teeth was nice enough, she thought she was funnier than she was, but she did a pretty good job. She then asks if I'm flossing. "Sure." I tell her, cause I have been flossing, every time I feel like I have something stuck in my teeth, I floss. She kind of gives me a look and then keeps going. I'm thinking, "whew, that was close, but I guess I sure fooled her.". Think again Mary...she calls the dentist in for the final examination and to look at my x-rays. He starts with "oh my goodness" and 4 cavities later I'm wondering whose x-ray this woman got mixed up with mine. No such luck...I knew there were a few teeth my old dentist was "keeping and eye on" but for crying out loud FOUR?!?! The dentist asks me, "are you drinking cokes?" "no", "are you drinking sweet tea all the time?" "no", "are you flossing?" this one I couldn't quite avoid easily, but the answer was, "not really". He had to know, I'm pretty sure the hygienist tattled on me before he ever got into the room. Well, I was through for the day but had rescheduled my fillings for...today.

I got up this morning and got ready, came to work and worked until 8:50 and then I left for my appointment. I got there and they got me in the chair quickly. Now, I could go into hilarious detail about the events leading up to and following my procedure but, frankly, I don't have that much time. (Maybe next time, he only did half the cavities today, in two weeks I'll be going through all this again) Let's just say he used the needle I was numbed...am numbed...and will probably still be feeling the effects of being numb when you all see me tonight. I couldn't answer the phone the first few hours I got back into the office because Cox-Springer sounded more like Cox-thpringer Finansal Advizors. I'm hungry as heck (because I ran out of time for breakfast this morning) and it's 12:30. I've spent my lunch writing this story because I CAN'T EAT ANYTHING. I'm afraid I'd bite my tongue off and not know it...

Why do I tell you this? Because flossing is important. It's strange what we'll do to prevent what we know is already going to happen. I'll have you know, I flossed every day after that first appointment until today, somehow I was hoping they would see the excellent job I had done by flossing every day for 2 weeks and decide my cavities had gone away. No such luck...Does that mean that I will stop flossing, you can bet your gums I WON'T! I've learned a valuable lesson...unfortunately, the hard way.

I hope you're all having a fabulous day and remember, before you go to bed tonight, FLOSS!

This was written about a year ago but I figured it was funny enough for you to endure. Consequently - the second visit to the dentist was worse than the first. Apparently when they hit a nerve with the anesthetic your face swells up like someone who's been in the ring with Mike Tyson (though my ear was still intact when I left the dentist office). All the more incentive to floss...hahahaha....yeah.