A visit to the Dentist...

"You better go to the dentist soon..." were the dreaded words I heard after experiencing the awful crunch of a broken filling in my first bite of steak. I passed my tongue over the gaping hole where my American filling used to be and cringed as I realized a visit to a dentist in Spain was definitely necessary.

Now, since I had survived knee surgery without any problems in the Spanish system, you would think that a simple visit to the dentist wouldn't be so traumatic. However, I figured that if I dreaded visiting the dentist in the States, it had to be even more scary in a different country. I discovered that I was right.

Who would have thought that when you get the shot to numb your mouth for a filling, you could feel the drug simultaneously hit your nose and eyes while making you completely dizzy? (people interested in experimenting with different drugs better not discover the one my dentist was using!) As I felt that shock of novocain (or however that is spelled) hitting parts of my face that were definitely NOT my mouth, I reacted strongly and mumbled, "I felt that in my eye!" to which my dentist replied, "Really? Well that's not normal. There are a lot of nerves there that I might have hit. Don't worry about it as long as your mouth is numb." Let me tell you- that is not a great way to build confidence if you're a dentist. Oh yeah... and did I mention that after drugging me, the dentist left me there for five minutes by myself to wonder if the hit of drugs could somehow paralyze one side of my body or give me temporary blindness as my eye was watering and felt like it was rolling around in my head.

I can't complain about the end result of my new filling, but I guess I could complain about the one sensation I did experience as they were drilling my tooth. Pain. After feeling numbness for 40 minutes, the feeling of sharp pain was a bit alarming. I reacted and the dentist said, "oh sorry- but that was just your tongue... it will hurt for a few days, but it will be fine." She was right. It hurt for more than a few days, but I was fine.

This was probably the most eventful dentist visit I've ever had. I definitely can't complain about being bored in this adventure of living in a different culture!