to the dentist

i got ONE wisdom tooth pulled this last week.

just ONE.

now i understand why you should do 4 all at the same time.

i'm going to have to go through this pain and time of  barely eating 4 separate times...

but my situation is that all 4 are in and helping me chomp my food just perfectly, so really there's no need to get them out.

but one got a cavity (surprise surprise for kimber's mouth) and i think it was beginning to get too deep and hurt every once and awhile.

so instead of filling it, i was like "yeah, let's just take it out, that'll be just a little bit worse than getting a filling"

W.R.O.N.G.O.

ha.

it didn't exactly work that way and in the middle of the whole escapade i remember thinking "i should have just gotten the filling"

but let's talk about steps to making the dentist visit more enjoyable and less traumatic.

1. have the dentist and assistant be friends of yours:

i had a 4th and 3rd year working on me who are both in my ward and awesome guys.

you're naturally more comfortable, are braver with asking questions, and there's no awkward time filler conversations.

plus once when i looked up (usually my eyes are always closed) it was a really funny sight to see both of them with their glasses, masks, fingers, and tools all right there in my face.

felt like a scene from a movie
audrey, will you be casey's assistant whenever he does work on my teeth during dental school?

2. have music playing.

there was music playing throughtout the whole school/rooms but every time they'd start working on my mouth it'd drown out the music.

so one time when they stopped, i pressed play on my iphone music, put it on my chest and let the show continue.

it totally took your mind off what they were doing, plus i think they enjoyed it more too.

there were actually quite a few ironic songs that played:

a. the dog days are over Florence+the Machine: it was one of the first songs to play when they really started getting to work and if you've ever heard that song or worked out to it, you know exactly how it pumps you up and makes you feel like you're getting tons done

b. paradise by coldplay: definitely not paradise but very ironic

c. you and i by lady gaga: again, ironic, because when casey and i found out we were accepted to nebraska, we listened to this song over and over and over (it's still my ringtone actually), it was like our nebraska/dental school theme song (because she sings about nebraska) and here i was getting my teeth worked on at the dental school, listening to that song

d. one of the times they were really trying to pull it out the song stronger by kelly clarkson came on.

its lyrics say stuff that won't kill ya only make ya stronger...lies

3. if you can feel any  pain, have them give you more novocain.

more is always better than less in these situations.
the wonderful student dentist, colt, always offered and then gave me more novocain when he could tell i was wincing because i felt something.
usually they ask "can you feel that? do you want more novocain?"
and for the most part, i usually decline thinking "it's ok to feel a little bit, just keep going..."
he'd ask the question and then just responsively give me a little more, it was great.
i'm absolutely positive all the dentists i saw growing up did not think this way.
it was always so painful!
the assistants/hygenists would say "just squeeze my hand when it hurts!"
that's a terrible way to deal with the pain,
just pump up the novocain for pete's sake!
(my brothers all agree with that statement, we've talked about it plenty of times once we started seeing a dentist that didn't make it hurt...)

4. shed a few tears after all the work has been done.

this actually doesn't make the situation better but it did happen.
and it makes the dentists feel bad and they should for putting me through that pain...

it was really long and traumatic and that's kinda just what happens to kimber in those kind of situations.

also, having to continue to be a mom immediately following the tooth pulling and all night and all the next day,

not completely easy.

it's easy when all he's doing is eating or laying there and smiling at your swollen face.

not easy when he's suddenly not happy and wants to be walked around and you're feeling like crap.

that night and the next maxson slept a whopping 7 hour stretch for his in pain momma
and then followed it up with 4 more hours before the morning came

i finally was able to fully maximize that sleeping time myself when i went to bed only 20 minutes after he did.

we spent most of the immediate following day playing and sleeping on my bed all day because that's how in pain momma's roll.
every time he was sleeping, i was right there with him doing the same thing.

i really don't want to go through that 3 more times...mmeh