dental torture

normally i'm very good at the dentist. like many children of immigrant entreprueners we did not have health/ dental insurance for a very long time. in fact, the first time i really remember going to the dentist was in 10th grade! so many years of never visiting the dentist resulted in a root canal on my first visit. :( depsite this, i enjoy going to get my teeth cleaned. it's kind of refreshing. today's appointment was totally different.

let me start off by saying i really don't like my dentist. you can tell that he thinks he's very good looking and that his work is extremely important, like life changing. he lectures me constantly about the importance of flossing, tells me everything about anything related to teeth, and thinks he's so pro that he knows my dental history w/out looking at my chart. "i see you had braces." "no i didn't." "of course you did." "no, really i didn't." "are you sure? lemme check your file." wtf? OF COURSE i would know if i had braces. goodness.

what is most irritating is that when he cleans my teeth he loves to say soothing things like, "you're doing GREAT!" or "see that wasn't so scary?" as if i was a little kid wimpering in my chair! i am totally chill at the dentist. i breathe normally and certainly don't tense up. the only problem i have is i hate the grittyness after the cleaning and they only give me a tiny bit of water to rinse. that is seriously the most dramatic thing about my dentist visits.

today, different story. i don't know what happened but i freaked out in the chair as soon as the first high-pitched tool turned on. i scrunched up my eyes, curled my lips, and gripped the arm rests. the noise was horrible! i was really scared. i did everything i could to calm myself down but nothing worked. 5 minutes into my cleaning, my neck and shoulders were aching because i was so tense. 7 minutes into my cleaning i almost started crying because the noise was so irritating. plus it hurt!

in the end i made it. i endured and my teeth are nice, smooth, and plaque free! silly how i'm so proud of myself!