Dentist!

[nekostef]

I just got back from having a cavity drilled at my dentist. Because I hate needles, I customarily request that they drill without Novocaine. Does choosing 10 minutes of drilling over 15 seconds of jabbing make any sense? Probably not. But whatever. It's interesting to see your own reaction to pain - what it feels like, how much you can take,

Comments

[dainasplashes]

I was actually encouraged by my childhood dentist to try it without novocain the first time I had a pretty minor cavity. He said "well, your parents don't usually get it, and you can always change your mind." I didn't even feel like I needed it until the very end, and raised my hand, and he said, "I'll give it to you if you want, but I'm really about 10 seconds from being done." And so I bore it 10 seconds and escaped an afternoon of tingly. I thought it was a good deal.

But yeah, since then dentists look at me like I'm crazy when I say I'll try without. I've found that it sometimes can go faster when you're numb cause they can just bear down and DRILLDRILLDRILL, whereas otherwise they'd be gentler on you. Totally get your "interesting to see your own reaction to pain" -- last time I waited awhile before the novocain (they said it was a shallow cavity but it turned out not to be), it was weird, I felt okay BUT my back muscles were shuddering so I guess it hurt more than it felt like it hurt? Does that even make sense?

Getting over needle fear is handy, though! I'm cool with needles and it has made certain things easier for me than they would be otherwise.