Jan 6, 2010

I'll have a side of Nitrous Oxide with that Filling Please!

I'm still hungry after reading about all that food. Someone pass me some french fries! (Without chocolate or honey please!)

My lovely husband took the day off to go get some awesome dental work done. And tomorrow I head off to get a couple tiny fillings taken care of. Seriously, I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of the dentist!

But because his dental work will be painful we were talking about whether or not he should get some laughing gas (nitrous oxide) and it brought me back to the days where I had me a little of the good stuff.

I thought I would share with you my most memorable laughing gas moment. I wasn't very old. Somewhere between 8 and 10... I sat in the dentist chair waiting for my first tiny cavities to be filled. (Seriously it's been like 20 years since I've had a cavity, what's up with that!) So they put the little mask on my face and I start to feel all fluffy and happy.

They start their procedure and I kid you not, I thought they were playing music in my mouth. The dentist talked in one of those reaaaaaalllly LOW voices, like the ones you hear when they slow down a record. The instruments were singing away and I looked down at my feet and saw them up on my knees. I could not fathom how they had gotten there.

Now I know this sounds fun, but when you are 8 this is like a nightmare. I was petrified. (I'd totally be entertained today, but not so much then.) Tears were more than likely streaming from my eyes by this point.

So they finished up the procedure and I sat up after as the gas wore off. I could no longer feel my face or smile. And the freaking guy decides it would be good for me to take a drink of water. Um I Could. Not. Feel. My. Face! So now I have water all over me on top of numb cheeks and lips. I bawled my eyes out!

I go home and my mom does the same thing.

"Take a sip of this honey."

Once again with the water down my face and shirt and once again with the crying.

So this is my advice moms and dads. WARN your children about getting high before you put that mask on their face!

Anyways...to continue my contest (only two more days! AHHHH) I want to hear YOUR most memorable dental story. The top two get points. (Oh yeah, I am THAT mean!) So start spilling... (and by spilling I do not mean water down your chin and shirt...)

Have you missed the rest of the contest? Well go get some points already. Answer some questions ... Tell me about your favorite "Almost Kiss" ... and name a few of your mouth watering favorite carbolicious meals!

15 comments:

Scott said...

Even though I haven't technically entered your contest . . .

My first cavities were when I was 18. Yes, I made it to 18 without having a cavity. 20 years later, the dentist decides my fillings need replacing. Okay. Simple procedure. Go for it!

The lovely - and I mean that with all the sarcasm possible - dentist injects what they must inject to numb my mouth and . . . hits the optic nerve. I couldn't blink. I couldn't blink. Did I mention I couldn't blink??? So, afterwards, my face swollen like Frankenstiens and I can't blink. I had to manually pull my eyelid down in order to blink. Not fun, not fun at all. Did I mention I never went back to that dentist again? Do you wonder why? Seriously? I couldn't blink!! It was the absolutely most horrible (well, at least for the moment) experience of my life!

Jessica M. said...

I refuse to participate in this challenge. The dentist scares the $H*T out of me and just reading about other peoples stories can send me into a major panic attack. Booo this challenge!!! :P

Anonymous said...

I used to get dental work done at the University of Pennsylvania dental school. It was cheap, we were thrifty, and I'd been assigned a cute dental student. All was well until, uh, I needed fillings. Because dental students take for-freakin'-ever to do fillings!

Seriously. Jaw-aching, endless-drilling, teacher-consulting FOREVER! The appointments are three hours long. An hour and a half of that is sitting with your mouth open waiting for them to finish the friggin' filling.

Needless to say, I don't go there anymore, cute dental students notwithstanding. Give me an old, crusty, efficient dentist anyday. In, filling, out. Done.

Sheesh!

Tana said...

I hate the dentist. I take a fistful (not really) of advil before I go in and all is well. Plus I lament what a baby I am and they give me extra novacain. Hugs!

Rebecca said...

So I have two...one is actually Brian's but still...
The first was when I chipped my front tooth on a beer bottle and had to find a dentist that could fix it right away...seriously a chipped front tooth at 19 is no way to greet people in retail!
The second is when I took Brian to get his wisdom teeth out...he passed out before they gave him the anesthesia so they decide to forgo it...well he woke up during the procedure and was in such shock that he passed out again. When everything was over it was like he had been drugged, he couldn't walk or talk or anything! Note to dental staff, don't let your patient wake up half way through pulling out his teeth!

Frankie Diane Mallis said...

I didnt have my first cavity until I was 17...thus all my stories are made of #lamesauce but I despise the dentist just the same.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I am beyond phobic when it comes to dentists. I hyperventilate - every time. When I was in college, I thought it would help to have a friend with me. My friend sat next to me and held my hand...while I hyperventilated and the dentist left the room!

Carrie Harris said...

I had Bugs Bunny teeth, so I ended up with a LOT of dental work. One time, I sat in the chair with my mouth totally numb and goop drooling out the sides of my mouth while the dentist and the hygienist had a spat. Apparently, they went on a date, and it didn't go well.

It probably would have been funny if not for the goop.

Patti said...

Absolutely hate the dentist. I have to go get two fillings but I'm now looking for a dentist that uses lazer technology. No freezing.

Elana Johnson said...

I just wanna say that I abhor the dentist. ABHOR. Pain and loss of money. A lot of money. Um...no thanks.

Hilabeans said...

Seriously? They've never given me the gas. Sounds like fun. I've only gotten the HUGE needle of stuff. And no, doc, wiggling my cheek doesn't make it hurt less as it pierces the gum...just to be clear.

Maybe I should do like the 1800Dentist lady and find dentist that uses N2O.

Love your posts as always.

hhs

Unknown said...

I had braces for 7 years, so there are almost too many dental memories to count.

But my favorite memory so far as a mom would have to be taking my toddler in for his first visit last month. That office was like EPCOT! The gloves are flavored, and they have video games in the waiting room. **I** want to go there.

(Of course, he still cried through the whole thing.)

Katie Ganshert said...

Okay....but get ready to cringe.

My brother, who's a pretty big dude, teed off at the men's tee. Drove a golf ball right into my mouth. I ws standing at the women's tee. Imagine the driving force of that puppy. Yeah. It crashed right into my teeth. Amazingly, it hit my upper lip, broke off my upper jaw, and pushed my upper jaw to the back of my mouth. My teeth managed to stay in tact. My bottom teeth chipped into a perfect half golf ball shape. Oh yea, and did I forget to mention that my entire upper lip had a gaping hole through it? You could see straight through.

Dad rushed me to the hospital. The docs shot morphine in the butt. Everything was a-okay after that point.

Oral surgery. 40 stitches and a wired jaw later, and I was good as new. Or not quite. I still had to get three root canals by the dentist and he had to fix my chipped bottom teeth. I think it was a period in my life where I built up quite the resistance to novicaine.

Can anybody top that puppy?

Katie Ganshert said...

Oh yea. My dad and my fiance (now hubby) said that when the ball cracked into my face and brought me to the ground, it sounded like the ball had smacked into a tree.

Golfers, beware. It's an extreme sport.

Jill Kemerer said...

My worst dentist experience, and I've had a LOT of bad ones, was when I needed a root canal. My mouth would not numb properly. I had over thirty shots and the final two were in THE NERVE of the tooth!! It was horrible. Oh, and when I left, my car wouldn't start and I had to take a taxi home.