Monday, March 28, 2011

Here's the drill...

Literally,  I have a dentist appointment today.  I chipped a wisdom tooth.  I've won the battle with every dentist I've gone to about removing my wisdom teeth.  How can I write without wisdom?  Today, I'm seeing a new dentist, a woman dentist, someone with smaller hands!  How many of you have had bad dental experiences?  Show of hands please.  See, all of you have a story to tell.  I used to love going to the dentist, no I wasn't crazy, I just had a really, really good dentist when I was a kid growing up in Omaha, NE.


Since I moved away, almost forty years ago...ouch...that's a long time.  I've been dentist hopping.  I won't go into the gruesome, frightening details, one of you might be planning a trip soon,so no sense in filling your mind with terror.  I remember about ten years ago, after another bad experience, just out of curiosity, I checked for my old dentist in Omaha.  And, to my surprise, he was still practicing.  I made an appointment to see him.  I drove 300 miles to see him.  He was great, a little old, well, maybe a lot old, but he still had that magical touch.  I left his office beaming.  That is, until his receptionist told me, that was his last week. He was retiring.


I'm prepared this time.  I went in a month ago to meet the dentist and share with her my oddities concerning dental work.  I liked her, I think we will work well together.  See I sound optimistic and upbeat about this don't I?  Wanna know my secret?  How can I make light of my appointment in just over four hours?


It's my husband.  He's a hypnotherapist.  He hypnotizes people to help them with smoking, weight loss, fears...Did you catch that fear part?  He hypnotized me yesterday afternoon to prepare me for today's appointment.  He took me to a wonderful place, a relaxing place.  He filled my mind with calming thoughts.  I was floating on his every word.  Then he sneakily tossed in a line or two about speeding up my metabolism.  Too many chocolate chip cookies and too much sitting still to write and he has to listen to me complain I'm no longer a perfect size 5 like when he married me, twenty-two years ago.


That's great, I love all the help he can give me.  But, do you know what happens when your metabolism speeds up?  Remember, my bathroom story from yesterday?  Yep, your body functions faster and you have to keep running to the bathroom.  Now, compound that with my fear of the dentist and I'm going to need a catheter to stay in that chair today.


Four hours and four minutes to go...I'll let you know what happens.


March 28th, 12:50


I'm back.  The hypnosis worked.  I was a little apprehensive around the house this morning waiting to leave.  But he took me through walking into the dental office right up through the finish of the procedure during hypnosis.  I was nervous when we stopped in front of the office and I stepped out of the car.  But, the moment I stepped foot inside, all anxiety stopped and I couldn't believe how relaxed I felt.


Dr. Rachel was perfect.  She has a more gentle touch than my childhood dentist.  She broke the news to me that I didn't need an injection and I didn't need the drill after all.  She used a small dental tool to excavate the tooth and filled it.  No pain, actually no discomfort at all.  The worst thing that happened was I had a little water splashed on my face during the cleaning.   Hooray!!!  It's over.  I plan to use her for all my future dental work.  But I still had to leave the chair to pee!











11 comments:

  1. A lot of dentist have also advised me to have my wisdom tooth or mullers removed. However, I'm just nervous of tooth extraction.

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  2. My dentist once even told me that not having my wisdom tooth extracted will lead to serious diseases. Patricia, I loved how detailed you wrote this story, it surely made me smile in front of my computer monitor. If hypnosis worked on you, then there's a possibility that it would work on others. Cheers!

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  3. I think these problems can be addressed especially now where cosmetic dentistry is becoming more popular. The dental health industry continue to invent and innovate technology that will be beneficial to all.

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  4. I agree with the previous comment. Cosmetic dentistry is now widely available to help people who have problems with their dental system. Dental restoration can now be done for as long as you have the money to pay the bill. It's good to know that hypnosis worked for you.

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  5. Hypnosis really helps in so many ways. If you are a person who has a goal in life like weight loss and to stop smoking, then you can try the power of hypnosis. Anyway, it's a good move for you to undergo hypnosis to take away all your anxiety and nervousness. I hope that your dental experience will give you the confidence to do the future procedure in a relax and pain free manner.

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  6. Dental experts are now finding different ways for painless wisdom tooth extraction. My dentist in Goose Creek also used hypnosis during my visit and I didn't feel a thing.

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  7. I have a bad experience with my male dentist when I was a kid. He has a strong hands and I feel like my jaw is going to give up. I found a female dentist with gentle hands even though she has a big one. You’re lucky to have a husband that knows how to do hypnosis. I thought that maybe dentists should learn hypnosis too so they can make their patients feel relaxed.

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  8. I am a bit hesitant to try hypnosis to take over my fear in going to the dentist. But after reading your post, it doesn't look bad after all. I might have to try it and see if it works for me. Thanks for sharing your experience.

    tucson az dentists

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  9. She sounds like a really good dentist since you didn't feel any pain.

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  10. Great story. My childhood dentist was the gentlest of men. As a teenager, we moved across town; as luck would have it, the world's speediest dentist practiced two blocks from our home. When I was in my early thirties, Dr. Speedy retired and sold his practice to a very young & very small-handed cheerful man. For the past thirty years I've traveled across town, across states, and even flown 1200 miles to see Dr. Cheerful. Thankfully, I'm now only 10 miles from his office. I hope he never retires. How many people have a lifetime of great dental experiences? Not many, I'd bet!

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