So, today's dental appointment was to be at 1:00. Originally, it was to be at 3:20, but, of course, that changed. I'm a pretty punctual guy, so I arrived right at 1:00, took my seat, and started to wait. My dentist came out and said that there was an emergency type thing, and he had to do it right then. He thought it'd take about an hour more or so. So, the receptionist, after we discussed it, said I'd come back in around an hour, at 2:10 or so. She wondered about other days, but I was friggin' well gonna have that work done TODAY.

So, I took my time and went and did what I had to do (very little). I went and exchanged a broken binder at Michael's for C, I got gas (for the car, not me eating beans), and I bought a few things at the grocery store. I got back right on time.

I sat and waited for five minutes or so, and got called in with another gal. My doc turned on the LCD TV on the arm on the room's ceiling, and turned on the World Junior game. Ah well, at least I could watch the Canucks start whoopin' the Russkies (woo!). This was a good thing, 'cause nothing else was going on. I got my freezing done right away (and a lot of it), and then it was a full 40 minutes before I saw the dentist again.

At about five to three, he came back, and was ready to start work. He cranked up the hockey game, "just 'til the drilling's done", and started in on my stupid friggin' cavity-prone mouth. He drilled out a couple of teeth, stopping whenever Canada scored to watch the replay. I really couldn't blame him. Still, though, it added time to the whole drawn-out visit. On my front tooth, the one that had a root canal before, he was taking longer with it. Drilling with different drills, picking with things... then he took a couple of pics to show me what the "problem" was. The old (only a couple of years) filling didn't meet the tooth correctly up by the gums. For him to do it right, he said the tooth had to be totally dry, and this gum wouldn't cut it. Some gum had to go. I pictured tiny slicing with a little blood and a little pain. He said I shouldn't feel a thing, and that it had to be done. I said "you'd know", and let him get at it. It only took a couple of minutes of burning, not slicing, and it was totally painless (but it still cost $74! holy crap!). He showed me a pic of the little brown, burned gum hole, which he said would grow back fine. He finished up the tooth and felt good about it. He then finished up the other tooth, and seemed to think he was done. I was like, "Was it just two or three to do today?" He looked at today's sheet, which said two, and then the original stuff from last year, and it said three. "Oh yeah, there's one on the other side. Good thing you remembered!" No fuck! You'd have sent me home only to schedule and then re-re-re-re-reschedule another appointment. This one was quicker, which was good, although it required more freezing.

The bad part about today was the pain. Usually dentist trips are like "meh" to me now, but when he was working on the tooth that was supposedly dead from the root canal, it was painful! The drilling was rather sensitive, and I think the water / air was worse. Then, the needle to add more freezing for that area was the worst. I think it was between those two front teeth... it was quite piercingly painful and sensitive. There was even some novocaine / water squirting going on!

My God, between the scheduling, the discomfort, hockey breaks, and everything else... this whole dentistry thing is gettin' on my nerves. At least the whole thing (including $74 gum removal) only cost $408 this time. Oh, and because of a 'net glitch, it took me five tries to pay before screeching out of there. The receptionist said she felt bad, like she should owe me something. I agreed, and told her it should be on the house. yeah right. I also said they should be giving me frequent driller points or something. No dice on that one, either. Ah well. I'll be back for my cleaning next week... I hope it's routine, and that they keep the appointment!