Go to the dentist

in December to get the bite splint (I hope) and get a cleaning. The purpose of this goal was to start getting regular dental care again and I’ve done that.

Apparently, I’m able to shrink my bottom teeth. I’ve gone twice to get the night guard and it still doesn’t fit. They took another impression to try again. We’ll see.

There’s nothing that soothes a viral headache like some nice drilling. Aaaahhh. I got three fillings on two teeth and impressions made for a night guard. It was interesting. I dealt with my discomfort by getting into character as the male MC in my novel, who is also going to the dentist, and then just listening to the thoughts fly through “his” brain. Got about a page typed of his experiences and thoughts when I got to work. If I hadn’t actually been to the dentist myself, I never would have gotten the detail of the smell of the drill + the cherry-flavored numbing gel reminding him of the Christmas cookies his mom used to make with a maraschino cherry in the middle.

It had been four years since I’d seen a dentist, I’d lost my night guard along the way (which I’d bitten through anyway) and the Sjogren’s means I have less salivary flow, which leads to cavities. THEN, I forgot I had the appt today at 8am, so at 7:30am I was eating sour cherry candy, which for extra tooth-abusing effect I had frozen.

I was prepared for a less than happy dental visit. It turns out that I have only two small areas of decay on the sides of two teeth, which they will fill. Other than that, it all looks good. Well, except for the grind marks. She showed me all the places she could see wear from grinding and then went, “Really, you don’t wake up with headaches?” I’m going to keep this as a goal until I finish my next two visits; one to take impressions for a new night guard and get the fillings and one to pick up the night guard and get a cleaning.

I also told her that a character in my novel was a dentist and the male MC is about to see her. She actually wrote that in my chart! I got lots of good info for the story, which I will write down today so as not to forget it. Dental software is really cool, it turns out, but they still scrape your teeth with the same metal stick I remember as a kid. Some things never change.

Since it’s been four years, they want to do a full exam one day and then reschedule me for a cleaning. So I’ll be able to mark this off on 9/11! Not only will my teeth be happy but it may help me with the novel, since I’m stalled right at the point where the male MC is about to see the female MC’s dentist.

It has been four years since my last confession, er, cleaning. I’ve been meaning to find a dentist in this state since I moved here three and a half years ago. I would probably still be procrastinating if it wasn’t for the fact that one of the characters in the novel I’m writing is a dentist and the male main character is about to visit her as a patient. Maybe doing this as a novelistic exercise will make it less anxiety-provoking. I’m not scared of pain or dentistry in general. It’s the expense that I fear.