The Dentist at 7:30 am

So this is what it feels like to be a grown-up...driving 25 minutes through drifting snow to get to the dentist at 7:30 am, to get your tooth drilled for two hours, and then go straight to work.  Waaaah.

Actually the dentist wasn't all that bad.  I fractured my tooth around Christmas and the dentist told me by the time they filled it in it would be more filling than tooth, so I would also need a crown put on.  But first, he had to dig an old filling out, fill a new cavity that was forming, re-fill my tooth, and then ground all the way around it so a crown could be fitted on and then fill my mouth with goop to form a mold for the new crown.  Twice.  The first mold had a bubble in it.  I usually don't like to get Novocaine because I don't like how it makes my face feel numb for hours after the procedure, so I usually get fillings done without it.  To me, it is about 5-10 minutes of severe pain rather than hours of pain and numbness to my whole face from the Novocaine.  Ok, I'm weird, but I asked for the smallest dose possible.  And it just started to wear off at the end of the two hours, so it worked out.

The dentist said I was a very good patient, besides the fact that it was such a long procedure and the very last tooth in the back and hard to reach.  The dentist and his assistant kept saying things like, "it could have been much harder, you could have had a small mouth or tight cheeks." ...So you're saying I have a big mouth and flabby cheeks?!

And since I don't have to open the library until 10 am I figured a 7:30 am appointment would be fine.  I didn't know I'd be there for two hours.  So with the combination of drifting snow, a 30-40 minute drive, and stopping at my house really quick to let the dogs out, I didn't open the library until 10:35 am.  And here's what it feels like to live in a small town...my morning regulars at the library thought I had driven off the road, or gotten lost in the snow.  One guy even told me he was waiting outside the library praying that I made it to the library alright.

But I made it in.  Even if I am still wearing my old grey Augustana sweatshirt that I drooled on all morning since I didn't have time to change after my appointment.  Oh well.  It's not like I'm trying to make any fashion statements on this snowy day in small town Illinois...or any day, really.  Unless you call muddy livestock boots a fashion statement.  I guess I am just starting to fit in with all the farmers around here.

Comments