Oral Stimulus

 

So I am back at the dentist. She's finishing up the root canal that was started a week ago. The dental assistant asks me if I want to rinse and spit, which I do. I swish the blue stuff around in my mouth and spit it into the little swirling sink next to the chair. Except that I haven't spit into the little sink. Instead I have drooled it out onto the bib chained around my neck. My mouth is deadened by the Novocain and I have no control. Looking down at the mess, I can see it is dribbling down to my shirt and I try to say that I want a new bib.

"Whoooo whib weeese. Woo.... "

Apparently dentists can understand Novocain mouth and the assistant quickly puts another bib around my neck. I have to say that I like my new dentist. Again, I have no pain. I've been stuck, drilled, and there is a strange smell of something burning in my mouth, but no pain. About that smell of smoke and actual feeling of heat in my mouth. I asked the doctor about that when she was done. She brought me over to the x-ray hanging by the counter and showed me exactly what she had done and why there was smoke. It all made perfect sense to me. Never has a dentist explained what was going on in my mouth so clearly. Always it has been a bit of a mystery that I have tried to figure out with my tongue later at home. I have two more trips to the dentist for the crown on this tooth. It's not something I want to do, but it is necessary. One more thing about the dental work. There is no mystery about what I will do with that stimulus check I'm expecting from the government. It just happens to be exactly what I owe the doctor.