One Hole Down, Two to Go
Published July 24th, 2007Spent the morning getting a cavity filled. All in all, not a fun experience but not as bad as it used to be. Next up is getting my eyes fixed, and the date is rapidly approaching in some senses but at the same time, coming at me at a glacial pace. I really can’t wait to get it done. And I really want to get it over with. And I’m somewhere between terrified and petrified. Par for the course, I imagine. But I really can’t wait to buy sunglasses - real, normal sunglasses like the rest of the world wears. Of course I have no idea what is “in style” or what would “look good” on me, but I can at least enjoy the hypothetical.
When I was a kid I had some pretty extensive dental work done. And I absolutely HATED that goddamn Novocaine needle. They’d rub some gel on my gum to numb it (allegedly) and then inject the anesthetic a few minutes later. And I tell you - that gel didn’t do a DAMN THING. Still felt like - well, like getting a needle stuck into your gum. And that ain’t fun. So today I’m sitting there, the sadist…er, dentist (really, he seems like a good guy - for a dentist…) swabs up my gum with the gel, and then I see him reach for the needle. So I shut my eyes and wait for the awful pain and…..nothing. I don’t feel it. I don’t know what’s happened since the last time I had to do this, but apparently the gel works now! I don’t know what they did to it to make it work, but I’m very grateful. The rest of the procedure was as expected, my jaw hurts, there was some discomfort - but no needle pain and I’m damn happy about that. Now why can’t they use that on my arm when I get blood drawn?
As I write this, the Novocaine is wearing off. My tooth really aches now. It’s somewhat ironic, I had no pain in this cavitated tooth, but now it aches like a sonofabitch because it was “fixed” - wonderful. Yes, I know it would have been worse to let it go, but I’m just pointing out the irony in this. What isn’t ironic, but is just irksome, is that I had to pay $230 for this filling. Sure, I could have gotten silver, and my insurance would have covered that 100%. But this particular tooth would then show silver when I (albeit rarely, as some of you notice) smile. And who wants that? So I opted for the white, of course, and apparently my insurance covers a lesser portion of that - if any. Why bother with insurance at all I wonder. Dare I wonder what the white filling would have cost without it? Just chalk it up to cost of living, I suppose.
Yeah my jaw is starting to really hurt. I wonder if I can get some high-quality pharmaceutical-grade narcotics from next door….
(just kidding)
(sorta)
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