It Was A Good Run

I always say "just because I'm half-English doesn't mean my mouth has to look like it." So I take great pride in my beautiful teeth with their perfect midline. Not only that, but they're free of cavities. Or, at least, they were.

Shockingly, TWoP doesn't come with a dental care plan, so for the past three years I've been putting off the twice-yearly checkups, figuring that my teeth were probably okay since they didn't hurt. I finally bought my own dental insurance and took full advantage of it yesterday when I went to the dentist for a cleaning. First, she scolded me for letting so much time go by in between visits and giving my teeth a nice accumulation of plaque. Then she punished me for it with a session of vigorous scraping. But then ... THEN ... she broke my heart by informing me that I have not one, not two, but five fucking cavities. She was really nice about it, saying that they were in the beginning stages and the fact that I hadn't had cavities until now was very impressive, but still. Apparently, the sealants my childhood dentist put on my molars that helped keep all the cavities away in the past had worn away and cracked, creating little pits that are impossible for my toothbrush to get into and turning my molars into little cavity playgrounds.

I have the first three cavities filled next month. Because they're all located in the "lower left quadrant," the dentist will only need to use one shot for all three. They explained this to me as if I should be pleased, but I still think one shot is too many. Unless they give me laughing gas, although that's probably not included on my budget dental insurance that's already mad at me for going with the more expensive filling material over the cheap mercury poison death amalgams. The dentist refuses to use mercury and I get all the exposure to mercury I'll ever need from tuna, thanks very much.

So guys, uh ... does it hurt to get cavities filled? Not that I'm scared or anything.