Jan 29 2009
vigilance
Vigilance can be fueled by anxiety. I thought this while my dentist scraped out crap from my gums, admonishing me: “we really need you to floss more.” This made me feel embarrassed and anxious. I was specifically attuned to her use of the pronoun “we;” it implies that there exists some cabal of earnest, caring teeth specialists who are thinking about my mouth 24 hours a day, continually generating new ways for me to improve my dental health, and in turn, my entire life. My insurance pays them to do this, naturally. But yeah, I felt anxious. It is anxiety that motivated me to make another dental appointment for next week. Anxiety often makes me act.
Ever since I was a child, the dentist has loomed, in a fearfully horrific image that would do any horror movie screenwriter proud. This is the guy that hurts you. Of course, this was some time back in the day.
Today, everyone knows the modern dentist goes with tree-huggery statements, like “we really need you to …”. Yeah, yeah. When they inject the Novocaine, it’s supposed to deaden the area. Not for me!
Only when I was in my late 20s did I meet a dentist – upon the recommendation of a close friend – who was astute enough to realize that the nerve that required deadening in my mouth was hiding under my jaw. He filled 10 cavities, of long standing, in 50 minutes, with nary a pain.
Prior to meeting this miraculous dentist, I could only look forward to passing out in the chair as they started drilling, because the Novocaine hadn’t hit the target. Shades of blue, magenta, purple, black and then … lights out.
Wouldn’t you know it? This mahhhvelous dentist decided to move back East shortly after my first visit. Back to the drawing table. Years of tooth neglect ensued. I was too afraid, not into torture.
Now I tell the dentist, in no uncertain terms, “Dispense with the lecture, target the nerve under my jaw and don’t hurt me. There’s no telling what I might do to you when I wake up. Although I may appear to be a weak slip of a woman, I might well trash you in like measure to your treatment.
Yes, anxiety can fuel diligence. The diligence needs to be addressed to such masochistic, insensitive, dentists.
This is not to say that flossing and the whole nine yards is not worth your time. It’s your teeth, after all. However, just like the ‘Soup Nazi’ in Seinfeld, the dentist holds no sway, unless you hand it over.
Due diligence is a combination of anxiety given a free hand and having a bead on your enemy – the uninformed dentist!
Rose M.