My Dental Saga!
When I was a kid, I had a dentist who practiced his horrors on the corner of North Ave. and Brookland Park Blvd. above the corner drug store. I'm not sure if there is still a drug store there, but it is the building on the SW side of the intersection, right where those large second floor windows are, overlooking the intersection. I don't even remember his name but I'll never forget his inept use of novocaine. He never gave enough and he never waited long enough for the novocaine to work.
Anyway, as soon as I grew up, I stopped going to ANY dentist unless it was an absolute emergency; I needed a tooth pulled. Honestly, I was scared to death.
For a good 15 years, long after I married, I never saw a dentist regularly. Thus my teeth became a disaster scene and finally were in such bad shape that I HAD to go. I finally got up enough nerve to call my children's dentist, Dr. Evans in Mechanicsville. I told him my sorry story and he assured me that he would not hurt me. He even ordered a prescription to calm me down enough to come to his office.
Well, I never used the prescription. Nine-tenths of my fear was to get up enough gumption to call for an appointment. Anyhow, when I got to Dr. Evan's office and he got his first look at my dental disaster, he said he wouldn't fuss at me at all since I already knew what he would tell me. He also said that it would take about 6 months of visits, some extractions and many fillings. Dr. Evans assured me he would deaden everything and if I felt any pain, he would give me more novocaine. (I had told him my childhood experiences already).
He did as he had promised and I got through those 6 months of damage repair. I only had one bad experience with Dr. Evans' work and that was when one of my teeth broke as he was extracting it and he had to drill into the bone to get the pieces out. It never hurt during the extraction; but afterwards it took several days before I was back to normal. Since that initial visit, I have gone back every six months for dental cleaning and have had very few cavities since.
Dr. Evans retired last year and I am now the patient of a young woman dentist, who with several other young dentists, bought his practice. Dr. Kay brought in another, more experienced dentist yesterday to help her with the crown. He did most of the work, as the tooth was in a tricky position. Anyhow, after I had most of their dental tools in my mouth at the same time, the temporary crown was in place and a cavity in a neighboring tooth repaired. The two of them congratulated themselves on a tough job well done and sent me off to recuperate with a face temporarily frozen with novocaine! :)
Thus ends my dental saga!
Anyway, as soon as I grew up, I stopped going to ANY dentist unless it was an absolute emergency; I needed a tooth pulled. Honestly, I was scared to death.
For a good 15 years, long after I married, I never saw a dentist regularly. Thus my teeth became a disaster scene and finally were in such bad shape that I HAD to go. I finally got up enough nerve to call my children's dentist, Dr. Evans in Mechanicsville. I told him my sorry story and he assured me that he would not hurt me. He even ordered a prescription to calm me down enough to come to his office.
Well, I never used the prescription. Nine-tenths of my fear was to get up enough gumption to call for an appointment. Anyhow, when I got to Dr. Evan's office and he got his first look at my dental disaster, he said he wouldn't fuss at me at all since I already knew what he would tell me. He also said that it would take about 6 months of visits, some extractions and many fillings. Dr. Evans assured me he would deaden everything and if I felt any pain, he would give me more novocaine. (I had told him my childhood experiences already).
He did as he had promised and I got through those 6 months of damage repair. I only had one bad experience with Dr. Evans' work and that was when one of my teeth broke as he was extracting it and he had to drill into the bone to get the pieces out. It never hurt during the extraction; but afterwards it took several days before I was back to normal. Since that initial visit, I have gone back every six months for dental cleaning and have had very few cavities since.
Dr. Evans retired last year and I am now the patient of a young woman dentist, who with several other young dentists, bought his practice. Dr. Kay brought in another, more experienced dentist yesterday to help her with the crown. He did most of the work, as the tooth was in a tricky position. Anyhow, after I had most of their dental tools in my mouth at the same time, the temporary crown was in place and a cavity in a neighboring tooth repaired. The two of them congratulated themselves on a tough job well done and sent me off to recuperate with a face temporarily frozen with novocaine! :)
Thus ends my dental saga!
posted by mary ann at 10:26 AM
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