Gag Gag Sniff Sniff Ahhhhh

I had to have a crown put in at the dentist yesterday, thanks to a long-abused first molar finally "cracking under pressure." I'm generally a friendly, relaxed patient, but I have trouble with the Novocaine sometimes not working the first time through, and I admit I rely on laughing gas to get me through the Novocaine part of it. Well, yesterday I also had issues with my gag reflex every time the dentist tried to put some gadget in my mouth. And he'd tell me, "Just breathe through your nose," wanting to drug me out so I'd somehow stop gagging. Well, it didn't quite work out that way, but eventually we all made it through the appointment.

The thoughts that go through your head while on laughing gas, ha. While laying there like a zombie, your mind does weird goofy things, and it's interesting what you target on. If you're like me, you really want to just sniff sniff sniff deeply, but you don't want to look like you're really into it either, because normally that's just not the kind of person you are. When told to breathe deeply, I kept picturing some cartoon character eagerly breathing in some illegal drug in a very exaggerated manner, and I kept thinking something along the lines of "I don't want to be a caricature" - in reality my words were different, but they made complete sense to me at the time, yet I doubt they'd make sense to anyone reading this. So in my little nose piece, I'd practice subtle deep breathing, while all the while I'm sure my dentist would have preferred me to just take a big breath and fall asleep. Instead, my mind wandered to the weirdest of topics. Do I remember all of them? Not even. I do remember that Barack Obama was on TV, talking to a radio talk show host about health care reform, and I remember thinking that his was such a nice pleasant voice to hear while drugged out on laughing gas. And I remember the dentist having quite the sense of humor, and because I couldn't talk with all that stuff in my mouth, I either had to respond to his mischievous comments by wagging my finger at the dentist, a hand motion I hate doing, or I wrote down words on a piece of paper. After the appointment, it was remarkably amusing to try to decipher what I wrote during the laughing gas. The dentist and his hygienist did a pretty good job at the time.

Ultimately, and this was somewhat early on, the dentist switched to a smaller gadget-thing, and my gag reflex only flared if they touched my tongue with something. The dentist has the psychology part of dealing with a patient down very well (I was acutely aware of how he reacted to any movement I made and knew whether I was comfortable or in pain and what he needed to do or say to respond). I remember the dentist poking silly fun at both me and the brand new dental assistant, and it was overall not an unpleasant visit, perhaps mostly due to that lovely laughing gas. But last night, ohhhhh did my mouth throb, to the point that I wasn't sure I'd be able to fall asleep. Ah well, over and done with.

Oh, and the crown is beautiful.

Side note: Yesterday I was at the dentist's for so long that at some point, hunger kicked in and my blood sugar started rapidly dropping, to the point that I had to request something to eat, or I'd start getting the shakes and generally go physically downhill during the rest of the appointment. They gave me a little can of apple juice with no straw, and thanks to a numb mouth, I had to drink it much like Robert Hays and his "drinking problem" in the disaster spoof, "Airplane!" They also gave me a little cup of yogurt, and I had to eat that by getting a little yogurt on the spoon, flipping it upside-down, and smearing it onto the right side of my tongue, as I couldn't close my mouth around the spoon. Pretty lame.