The Arita Tooth Inquisition

I haven't been to the dentist since I was 13 years old. Even then I only remember going to the dentists only when I was 13 years old. I didn't have health insurance back then and stuff like dental and yearly doctor visits were a bit of a luxury when I was a pre-teen. That was just the way things were.

However, I brush regularly and don't have too rancid of breath and no green teeth yet but I didn't doubt I had a cavity or 6 lying around in my mouth. And since I have fabulous insurance now I decided, now's as good of a time as any to get started fixing everything.

I went to a doctor a friend of mine recommended last year. I also used to do yoga with the denists daughter so I figured he had to be nice because she was always so nice too.

I was asked to bring in my toothbrush and when I got there was asked several questions on tooth care and what not. Thoughrougly embarrasing.

Dental Hygenist (DH): How many times do you brush a day?
Me: (proudly) Two, at least. (on most days if I haven't fallen asleep exhausted but
who would blame me?)
DH: Do you feel that you get your back teeth properly brushed?
Me: Um, I try... but maybe not always.
DH: (Writes notes in my file) Mmm hmm, I can see you have cavities in
in your back teeth. Your tooth brush head is too big.

She comes back later and demonstates how I should brush my teeth with the itty bitty brush she gifts to me. She says, 'it's not that hard right?' as if to offer encouragement. (Really a sweet guesture, but half sarcastic if you ask me.) And then reports her findings to the dentist.

He comes over nods and preceeds to inquire more about my tooth. 'Why do you think you have cavities?' Because I like sweets was apparently not a sufficient enough of an answer as I was asked how many sweets I ate, what kind of sweets I ate, why I ate sweets and if I thought I could curb my behavior and if there was any other thing that could possibly lead to my teeth problems. I sullenly replied, beer and other alcohol, so we would do down that what kind of alcohol road and hopefully not repeat the kind of questions he asked for the sweets. He just nods and writes on my chart.

I can't believe it. I feel like I'm 4 and have just pulled the cat's tail and got caught or something. I'm actually hanging my head and avoiding eye contact. I tell myself to stop, but I just can't. Thank God they decided to move on before I start to cry. He really is a good dentist. He tells me my fillings need to be replaced because they are made from Mercury (NOT GOOD!) and that it's not healthy. I agree and tell him to please do all of them over. He only filled one tooth, but he didn't even give me novacaine! It didn't really hurt! He did something with metal, I don't know what but I swear the pain was minimal. Did I mention he's a healer too? I had to do something with a laser and a box at the end but supposidly I was all balanced afterwards.

I like holistic medicine and believes it works, so bring on the healing dentists. I go back tomorrow, hopefully things go well and I can keep eye contact.