Nothing can get you to the dentist faster than the cancellation of your dental benefits by your employer. Such is the case with me. I was told several months ago that I needed two crowns but put it off until the day I found out our dental insurance from work was going the way of the dinosaur VERY SOON! To date I’ve had half the total work done. I just went back this past Tuesday to start work on the second crown. In my adult life I’ve been going to the dentist so regular that I am not afraid of needles or drills or whatever. But this visit gave me the opportunity to see the dentist (who is VERY nice) through someone else’s eyes, those of a child.

Picture this, I’m in the dentist office waiting room and there is a gentleman with his son. The son is probably six years old. There is also a lady with two sons, one is about six and the other is about nine or ten. The father and son go in and the technician closes the door. Not sure why she did that because it did not block one scream that was coming from that office. That kid was screaming so bad I thought they were ripping his arms limb from limb. The other six year old who was still in the waiting room with me had the most panicked look on his face. Wonder why? Even though the entire family was speaking in Spanish I could still make out the conversation. Basically the little boy was telling his mother something to the effect that he did not want to go in there. The typical older brother pipes in and tells him, “Yes you are going in there and it is going to hurt just like that poor soul that’s in there right now!” The little boy begins to plead with his mother that he does not want to go in there, “No, no, no” the boy keeps repeating with a look of anguish on his face. The older brother, “Yes, you are going in and it’s going to hurt bad!” The mother is being a typical mother. She begins to stroke her younger sons head and gives him words of comfort while glaring at her older son. Obviously all the pleading in the world was not going to get this kid out of a visit to the dentist. I ended up sitting in the next room from the six year old. I think he was screaming louder than the first kid!!! Poor baby. When the dentist came to shoot me up with novacane (sp) she immediately commented on what a good boy I was for not screaming. Piece of cake! Only took 37 years!