My Visit to the Dentist

As a child, I absolutely HATED (and feared) going to the dentist. My stomach hurt. I always hoped my mom would forget about the appointment. (No such luck there, my mother didn't have great dental care when she was a child, so she made sure we had it.) The only bright spot was the HIGHTLIGHT magazine in the waiting room.

Dr. Whiting wasn't a bad dentist (as far as dentists go). I saw him every Sunday. He was in the Heber 1st Ward with my family. He didn't look scary there. However, he had gone to dental school in the army and looked like one of those drill sergeants I saw on TV. Now he did have a beautiful assistant who would always stay in the examining room and try to put me at ease with witty conversation. It was a mostly a one sided conversation because I was way too scared to utter any more than one syllable answers. Now, if everything was a-okay, I would be out of there in a jiffy, however if things weren't--well, bad news for me. For example, there was the time my permanent teeth were coming in on the bottom and those baby teeth weren't even loose.

"Those have to come out," Dr. Whiting declared. I knew that met something really awful for me. No nice numbing gel to deaden the injection site, and the roots on those teeth were long.

Flash forward 40 years. Now, I know that my dentist is not going to hurt me. He goes out of his way to make sure that doesn't happen. Recently, however, I needed to have two crowns put on. I've even had another one put on before so I knew what he had to do to prep those teeth. I was not looking forward to it.

I found myself sitting in the waiting room and I felt like that little girl who was sure something terrible was going to happen behind that waiting room door. I told myself, "I'm an adult and not a little kid." Didn't work. When I finally got behind the waiting room door, I had to confess that I was a nervous wreck. Dr. Williams (no relation) said something very comforting to me, "Well, I can give you nitrous or I can hit you between the eyes with a 2x4." Silly joke, but it immediately put me at ease. He was very careful not to hurt me. The numbing medicine didn't wear off for about six hours as a testament to that fact.

I am very grateful for the wonders of modern dentistry, stupid jokes, and a great dentist. I have two new crowns and they feel great. Thanks Dr. Williams.