Shellacked

It seems as though dental hygienists are notoriously brutal flossers.  Perhaps that’s just my experience. My all-too-rare date with the floss was especially painful yesterday. The hygienist almost sounded surprised when she told me that my gums were bleeding… from my vantage point, it seemed as though that was her goal.

But the floss wasn’t the best part. The hook/ice pick that she used in an attempt to take the white off my teeth was the real treat. I’ve never had a problem with the dentist. Luckily, I have decent teeth… and thus far the little people do as well. I realize how much of a gift that is. A gift worthy of diligent care… maybe just not so diligent with the floss part. (We’re working on it.) But the grappling hook she used to scrape at the exposed root on one of my teeth sent me into the rafters.

Again, she seemed surprised at my reaction when she said, “Yeah, you have some recession there. That must hurt.” Why yes… yes it did hurt.

So my exposed root and I decided to ask the dentist if there was anything to be done to help such a sensitive little tooth. To my delight, there is a treatment – varnish. “Sounds nice” I thought to myself. So I was quick to agree to a little varnish for my little peek-a-boo root.

After another spine-tingling trip to the rafters, when my tooth was rinsed and dried with the world’s most powerful air-hose, my tooth was ‘varnished.’

I don’t think ‘varnish’ is a good term. It should be called ‘horrible-tasking-smelly-UV dried-makes-your-tooth-feel-like-you’ve-just-eaten-a-very-green-banana-shellacking procedure.’ It was quick. It was mostly pain-free. And I have to admit that my little tooth feels pretty good today… despite the run-in with the ice pick.