why does having nice teeth gotta make me so po'?

It's been over a year since I had been to the dentist's office. And I probably wouldn't have gone yesterday (or anytime in the near future) if it weren't for the one and only filling I've ever had falling out of my tooth. I think it fell out about two weeks ago, but I just noticed it the other day. It's funny that a gaping hole near my gumline doesn't hurt, but just looks gross.

Yesterday's trip to the dentist was no fun at all. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for dealing with the filling in such a timely fashion, but then she mentioned some discoloration on one tooth and a small cavity in another and I started to feel kind of down. She then addressed the potential danger of the state of my gums around my back teeth. She used the words 'scaling' and 'root planing' and I was brought back in time to days of pain and sharp, pointy tools. I sadly agreed that a root planing was probably a good idea anyways, and upon doing so started to feel a depression coming on. I sat in the chair waiting for my bi-annual scrape and polish and the next thing I know a hygenist bopped in and cheerfully informed me she would be performing half of the scaling today. She then proceeded to pull a face shield down and pick up a needle. The depression was now official.

After laying back in an uncomfortable pleather chair, feeling assaulted and getting sprayed with my own spittle for 30 minutes, I thought it couldn't get any worse, but as I was leaving the office they handed me some estimates for all the suggested work. I would have asked more questions about the list, like what it all meant and why it came to 736.00, but I was all numbed up and confused about what just happened. Also, I couldn't tell if I was drooling.

Upon returning to work, clearly outraged and not thinking straight, I made the excellent choice of eating lunch with my coworkers while my mouth was still numb. I only dribbled water once, but to prevent further embarrassment I chewed all my food in the most unusual way which resulted in the right side of my mouth looking like hamburger. Classy.

I can't wait to go back to the dentist on Monday.