Dental Hygeine: Day 13

I have been avoiding this topic. But somehow day 13 seems the day to tackle it.

I am afraid of the dentist.

I have no good reason to be, as I have had no terrible dentist experiences in my lifetime. (My DH has horror stories from his childhood masochist dentist.) But I am.

It is a three part problem:

Part one is that I have lost the comfort of my childhood dentist, Dr. Ed. Ed was his first name, and we all called him such. The man was gentle and friendly, and never once hurt me that I recall. I mean, I am sure dental work occasionally hurt, but it wasn't anything extraordinary. Since I left my childhood home, I have had a half dozen dentists, none of which were nearly so good, painless, or pleasant. With each successive dentist that is not very good, my belief that I can find a truly talented dentist like Dr. Ed dwindles.

Part two is that I have a particular fear of oral pain. I don't know why, since other pain I can withstand without any difficulty, but oral pain. Heck. No. Whenever my teeth even slightly hurt I become a whiny baby.

Finally, and most significantly, part three is that I am mortified of needles. And a needle in my mouth is the most terrible idea ever. So even if Novocaine could lessen my oral pain (see part two) the cure is worse than the original problem for me.

So, my reasoning has been, if I don't go to the dentist, they can't find the problems that need to be fixed, and therefore they don't need to inject me with painkillers to fix them.

Right?

I know, I know, if I go to the dentist regularly, the problems won't crop up, and there will be nothing painful to find and therefore nothing painful to fix. In theory. But what if?

I do understand that I need to start seeing a dentist regularly. I also understand that I need to set a good example for the little one. Because when he asks me why he has to go to the dentist if mommy doesn't, I will have no good answer.

So mommy needs to go to the dentist. Blast. So how do I find a good one? This, is another one of those things that I will have to keep you posted on.

**Daily report for yesterday**

Keeping the streak alive! No bleeding, yay!