I just got back from the dentist. One of my fillings popped out a little while ago unbeknownst to me and it didn’t bother me until a couple days ago. Luckily I now have dental insurance, so there was really nothing keeping me from scheduling a right now appointment. In fact, the office is in the same building as work, so it was a pretty familiar walk there.
Once inside, I filled out the forms with my shiny new insurance card, feeling very adult, very in some sort of club. “I’m protected,” the card says, “I have a real corporate sort of job.” As I filled the forms out, there was this voice. I thought it was the radio, but no show would leave so much dead air. No, it was the voice of the dentist.
Now I don’t want to slag the man who fixed my mouth, but this guy’s bedside manner could use a little work. But his techniques were all really good and there wasn’t any pain.
Of course, I’m paying for that now as I sit in bed waiting for the anesthetic to wear off. I can’t eat because I could be happily masticating my tongue (I could be doing it right now and I wouldn’t know the difference). I’m really hungry.
The dentist also found two more surface cavities so I’m going back in two weeks (I can see it now, flashing the insurance card with grownup words filling my head, “no deductible, 100% on preventative” etc). I used to be cavity free. When all the kids in class were biting on foil, I could only watch. The first cavities I had to get filled were about 6 years ago (evidently the lifespan of these things is 5 years, on average). But those weren’t my fault, Dr. Weber told me. When my teeth formed, they didn’t close up all the way. My brother had the exact same thing, so it was easy to blame genetics. These latest ones are all my fault. Sigh.
It’s such a guilty feeling having cavities. Just a little more floss and my pearly whites would be just fine (except for the buckles fillings on my molars. Those were my parents’ fault). Knowing that it was all me really sucks.
So like I said, I’m home now and waiting for feeling to return. El called and laughed at my temporary lisp (after I was so nice to her when she had her wisdom teeth out, too). I feel like Stallone.
“Yo, Adrian.”