I went to the dentist yesterday to have a filling put in, and once again I was reminded of how messed up the novocaine thing is for me.
Here’s how the filling/drilling experience always works out (I’ve provided a timeline and a graph because i want to cater to both my nerdy and my visual readers).
A timeline, for the nerds
Injection – a needle full of anesthesia is jammed into my inner cheek (one of the Top 5 worst places I would ever want a needle shoved into…and no, that list will not be a future blog post).
10 minutes later – he’s in there chipping pieces of my tooth off with a hammer and chisel. I can still feel what’s happening a little too much. Would it have killed him to wait another 5 minutes? It probably would have.
15 minutes later – he’s done and I’m driving home with no feeling in one side of my head. I almost get into an accident because I keep checking the mirror to see if my face is still there.
3 hours later – I still can’t feel anything so I lay my head against the hot burner on the stove just to get a rise out of my kids. Kills em every time.
5 hours later – the novocaine is wearing off, but now all I can feel is the hunger pangs from not eating for half the day. I try to eat a snack but end up eating my tongue instead.
Bedtime – I go to kiss my wife and accidentally bite off a piece of her cheek. I’m so hungry, it actually tastes okay. Maybe we’ve been a little too harsh on the cannibals all these years.
Here’s a graph, for the visual folks
Does this happen to you too or am I the only one?
Or are you one of those crazy people who gets fillings with no novocaine?
Gotta hate the dentist.
Posted by Bryan Allain
Initially I thought you said “God hates the dentist.” at the end. And I concur.
I have been labeled “hard to numb” by my dentist. Last trip – five shots of “regular” novocaine and then, when that didn’t work, a sixth shot that I was told would make my eyeball, and probably my entire face and part of my neck, numb. He said that I should also expect my eye to water uncontrollably, and I might not be able to open or close my eyelid easily. Nope!…Nothin! Not even 2 hours later. I long for all of the side-effects you mention above. I hate the dentist!
When I was younger, I had a few small cavities filled without novocaine. Only one time did I start to feel the pain during the last little bit of drilling. It only lasted for a short period of time, but I think that was the last time I went without the needle. The good thing was that I could immediately eat without drooling all over myself.
One of the worst things is when a dentist asks you to rinse and spit while numbed up. Always feel like an idiot sputtering to get the liquid out of my mouth.
I recently heard that redheads are not affected easily by novocaine. I mentioned this to my dentist last time I was there and she said it was true.
Bry, same thing happens to me
Must be a family thing
I’m a redhead and have to get dosed up at least twice before I can’t feel anything. Hate the side effects too, but enjoy flaring my nostrils trick when only one side flares…my kids love it
It wasn’t until my later teen years that I realized they used a needle when numbing my mouth. Prior to that, they would put that crappy banana/band-aid tasting junk on my gum and then say that I would feel a little pinch. I literally thought that was what they did — pinched me a little. You know, to allow the crappy banana/band-aid tasting junk to enter into my body and start numbing my face. When I saw the needle for the first time, I felt betrayed…and a little terrified.
I’m another one of those people who don’t get numb properly. Last time I was at the dentist, he ended up giving me a nerve block that numbed half of my head (and I think the tip of my shoulder, which was weird) and I could still feel my damn tooth.
okay, now i’m starting to feel like i don’t have it so bad. it would suck for the novocaine NOT to work.
and it would suck even more to be Kevin. (i kid…too funny with the pinch story!)
@kevin I know the feeling. I was always deathly afraid of needles so my parents lied right to my face and told me the dentist didn’t use a needle. I finally found out the truth and I haven’t talked to them since.
I’m also constantly checking the rear-view mirror after leaving the dentist, but to make sure my face is still the same size. I always feel like JoshApeman afterward. Not to mention it feels like they paper towel my mouth out before I leave just to have me make a fool of myself as I wrestle with trying to drink water like a normal human.