A little thing

I went to the dentist yesterday. Big whoop-dee-do, I know, but I am happy to report that I didn't have any cavities or other dental weirdness going on and that pleased me greatly. It's been this way for the last couple of years, things holding steady, and I must say I could get used to this.

There was a time, from childhood up through my 30's that there always seemed to be something wrong with my teeth. The culprit was too much sugar and not enough brushing (so simple, in retrospect). Not as many troubles as some people, but enough to invoke plenty of dental anxiety just walking into the office for a cleaning.

I reached some kind of turning point regarding how big of a deal the dentist was for me a couple of years ago (when things were improved anyway, I guess). I needed to go back for the good Dr. R. to file off some high points of a filling that she had replaced a week or two before. For that initial work, she had prescribed me some Valium, and I took the bus to the office, and had my neighbor pick me up. When it was time to go back and get the thing tweaked, I decided I simply didn't have the time to take the Valium and make arrangements for a ride and it was time to suck it up and just do it. It turned out fine, and the tooth hasn't bothered me since.

And since then, going to the dentist has involved more chatting about our kids than making treatment plans. I do the brushing/flossing thing and it seems to be working. It's a little thing, but it's nice to not have that anxiety anymore. No doubt there will be fillings to replace in the future, but after a break of not having to get any work done for a while I feel more ready when that time comes.