Easy Money.

Yesterday, after a successful 2 years of avoidance, I visited the dentist.

I am not a fan of the dentist. I am, in fact, rather hysterically afraid of the dentist – even though my most traumatic experience in the chair has been nothing more serious than a few fillings. No root canals or braces or extractions (though I did have 2 wisdom teeth removed while I was knocked out).

I’ve visited several dentists who specialize in “phobic” patients, including one who taught me a bit of self-hypnosis. I have medicated myself with anti-anxiety meds, too.

Mostly, however, I just try to avoid going. At all. Even as an adult who knows better.

But when my school’s insurance kicked in, I couldn’t use the excuse of “we can’t afford it” anymore. I could barely use that in the past anyway because, really, we CAN afford it. But I kept saying things like, “Let’s wait ’til we have insurance coverage, ok? Then we can just, y’know, get it paid for, right? Yeah! All good.. la la la..”

A new dental office announced that they’d be opening up within walking distance of our house and I decided that we’d start going there instead of the other further away office – that way, when the kids are a bit older, they’ll be able to walk to the dentist after school instead of needing me to drive them (or take a bus, or whatever). So, then we had to wait for them to finish building the new office, right?

One day, sadly, I ran out of excuses. I had insurance. The office was open.

I called and made appointments for the whole family.

And my appointment was first.

7:30, Friday morning, I was sitting in a massaging chair with my mouth wide open. They took pictures and did x-rays and scraped and polished and.. no cavities. Handed me a new (lime green!) toothbrush and some toothpaste and some floss and sent me on my merry way. I have an appointment in 2 weeks to return for a new bite guard (because I may have bitten my last one into pieces recently. *cough*stress*cough*)

Easy peasy. My hands sweat like crazy but I didn’t cry and I didn’t scream and I didn’t hyperventilate – and I wasn’t even medicated.

The best part for me, beyond the TV in the ceiling and the massage chair and the friendly people, is that I didn’t have an cavities.

Because people in our family who visit the dentist without cavities get a fresh, crisp $20 bill as a reward.

Even the adults.

Awesome.