Whining and Moaning

I went to the dentist this morning, which was unpleasant in all the usual ways. Let me enumerate.

Filling out all the damned forms. I have had too many appointments lately, and I am OVER the forms.

X-rays. I'm never good with those (sensitive gag reflex), but I had to stop him after a while because the roof of my mouth was really bothered by the pressure of the thing you have to bite down on. Probably it's extra-sensitive because of the cold, coughing, etc., but, you know, ow. Let's leave some for next time, since you said that was an option.

(Side note: I went to the doctor's office yesterday and saw the PA, to see if this really is just a cold or is something else. Apparently it's just a cold, or at least it isn't the flu or a sinus infection, but it turns out that I have some fluid in my ears and an infection there, so, hello antibiotics. Please let them help somehow.) (Back to the dentist.)

The scraping of the cleaning part. My gums bleed a bit, as they always do, and since I was honest that I don't floss daily (since I figured that they would be able to tell, so why lie), I got an ongoing commentary about how my gums wouldn't be "inflamed" and they wouldn't bleed "when I touch them" if I flossed--as though by touch, he meant with a gentle finger, instead of reality, which was jabbing the gums with a pointy metal tool. Does anyone not bleed at all when they have that done?

Also, whatever happened to the days when they handed you a cup of water and had you rinse and spit? He sprayed inside my mouth with water and then suctioned the liquid out, over and over, until I felt like I had been pressure-washed internally.

And then he mentioned that if I wasn't going to floss, I might think about getting a water pik, which isn't as good as flossing, but is better than nothing, and you know, I feel as though the water pik would also leave me feeling pressure-washed. It looks messy and unpleasant, is what I'm saying, though it's not like I've tried it. Anyone here use one? Thoughts?

The dentist came in and looked things over, and showed me where I have one filling that needs to be re-filled, and then there are two others that are starting to go, and are so large that instead of being re-filled, they have to be crowned. Oh, great.

(I was looking back in the blog to see if I can find when I had other crowns done, and ran across this, if you will forgive me quoting myself:

At one point, when I had flinched a little, the hygienist said, "What's wrong?" and I wanted to say, "Oh, did you not realize that you're poking my gums with a sharp metal stick?"

So at least I'm consistent.)

From there, I had to talk to the office manager about costs and my insurance and so on, so they took me to a small room for that, and oh my GOD it was like walking into a refrigerator. The rest of the office wasn't warm, but I had been okay, wearing a t-shirt and capris and sandals. This room was frigid.

I waited there a few minutes until she could come in, and when she said, "Let me turn my computer on," I wanted to walk out. But I waited while the computer woke up (and she took a couple of phone calls), and while she poked at it and muttered to herself and made notes, and finally she told me that my portion of the bill for this unpleasantness would only be $1,500. Great. And she was going to give it to me in writing but the computer was acting up, so she said she would go to her computer and I could go to the waiting room, which wasn't quite as cold, since she could tell that I was verging on hypothermia.

And it was better out there, but then they were having computer problems and she couldn't get in, and the receipt printer didn't want to print, and eventually she said that she would email the paperwork to me*, and I could go.
*By 5 today, she said, and guess what? Nothing so far.

And when I got outside, it was so nice and warm! And I got into my car, which had been sitting in the sun for those totally unpleasant two hours, and honestly almost cried at how good it felt.

Then I drove around the block to Starbucks and got a large hot drink. And I went through the drive-through, which I almost never do, because I couldn't stand to get out of the car.

Once home again, I put on long leggings, and slippers, and drank the nice warm latte, and made a note on my calendar to wear warm clothing when I go back for this nonsense.