I had my very first drilling for my very first cavities today. I’ve always been a good li’l brusher, and had no need for such things. But I hadn’t been to the dentist since at least 1995 (probably longer), and I just went a few weeks. I’ve got something like half a dozen “pits,” which I guess don’t really qualify as cavities, but they’re like little cavity seeds: let them sit, feed and water them, and you’ve got yourself a rotten tooth.
Anyhow, they’re really tiny, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I was told that I’d have to get them all drilled. So I went in today to have the first two done, both in my upper-right molars. It really wasn’t a problem. No pain, just kind of awkward. Two people with their hands in my mouth, plastic and gauze draped over my tongue, that bright light in my eyes. Very surreal. I ask a lot of questions, but what with the painkillers and the hands, I couldn’t really find out what was going on. I guess that he drilled out little holes in my teeth, did some chemical test to make sure that the cavity had been removed entirely, and then painted on the (extremely expensive) white filling stuff. So I have less tooth than when I went in. (Though I have too much filling — it’s too sticky-outy, so my left molars don’t actually touch when I shut my mouth.)
On top of this, I need braces on my lower teeth, due to slippage of a single tooth. So the rest of my cavities will have to fester for 9-10 months until I get my braces on and off.
I can’t believe that I’m 22 years old and I’m going to have braces. Everything old is new again.