I Can't Feel my Face!

The dentist that I'm going to uses all the high-tech gadgets: digital bite-wings, integrated computer patient database, blue-light cure composite fillings...

And yet, all of the assistants are high-school students. Literally - I asked one. They do an okay job with the polishing, and the dentist is actually the one wielding the sonic scraper for once, so I haven't had a problem before when I just went in for cleanings.

However, I got a little unnerved today when I had some fillings done. It bothered me just a little that the dentist was spending a lot of time telling the assistant what to do. It bothered me a lot when he had to correct the assistant during the procedure! In addition, the assistant couldn't seem to aim the suction device well enough to keep me from feeling like I was going to drown in my own spit. I was shaking by the time it was over, and shivered the whole way home - not from the cold, either.

Compound this by how I got there ten minutes early, but had to wait until 45 minutes after my appointment time to be seated. They didn't start the action until an hour and 15 minutes after the appointment time. I was ALSO told that it looked like the decay under one existing filling (that they were removing to replace) might be close enough to the root that I would need a root canal. Thankfully, once the coarse drilling and some poking were done, he was able to verify that I could keep my nerve.

And I used to like going to the dentist.

(Hi to all the RGSB people!)