I Hate My Teeth

When I was a kid I had a lot of trouble going to the Dentist. I wasn't afraid really, the Dentist, Doctor Cleary, was a great guy and I didn't have any problem with the sharp objects or the fear of drills or anything.

My problem was puke. No, really. I have a very sensitive gag reflex. Any time the Dentist would try to work on my back teeth I would hurl all over the place. Specifically I would hurl all over him.

It was not a pretty site. He was used to it though. He'd sit on his little rolling chair and be ready to wheel himself out of Dodge in an instant. I too got a little better at handling the situation in most cases. There were, of course, exceptions.

The two exceptions were fluoride treatments and x-rays. I think x-rays caused the most vomit over all, but I did I good job cleaning my teeth and never had any cavities as a kid, so the x-ray portion of the experience could often be skipped.

Fluoride, however, at the time wasn't a big deal either. I never had any cavities, so why do I need fluoride?

Now I know why I needed it. Around the time I reached my late 20's I started getting cavities. I also had a little issue of being an older career student and not having any health insurance. That meant the cost of actually fixing the bad teeth was extremely prohibitive, which means I've had a few teeth pulled.

Right now I have a cavity on the upper left side. It is killing me. It woke me up from a sound sleep at 2:30am this morning. I hate my teeth. I hate my stupid, stupid teeth.