From nerve to nervous

It must be a sign of something. I am a lazy brusher when it comes to my teeth. I really feel like that time I spend each day brushing my teeth is good quality time I could be using for something else. That makes my brushing half-hearted and lacking in concentration and effort.

I am playing for it now I fear. About a week ago while eating dinner I felt a little sharp pain in my teeth. Upper area to my left is all I can discern. I poked about a bit but no tooth presented itself as the cause of my new pain.

My mind immediately went into overdrive creating a little movie of what had happened. I saw a scene where a wash of food and drink over time had let to a little blow hole appearing in my tooth. I saw a wave of coffee or cranberry juice or red wine washing powerfully over that tooth and the fluid gushing into this blow hole terrorising the nerve ending hiding meekly inside.

And my amygdala immediately took over and advised the rest of my brain that the two best options were to (a) pretend that it's not happening.. the "you're imagining it" approach and (b) run away by trying to avoid the subject and avoid taking action. Turns out a combination of (a) and (b) has worked pretty well.. for about a week.

Now when I drink hot or cold fluids I get the pain. I am out of self-deception.

So I called the dentist and to my relief I got the answering service. I figured it might be a sign. Maybe the dentist has ceased operating (ouch.. wrong choice of word) due to the recession. Maybe I can keep trying the number for a few more weeks. You know the way.

But curses! I just got off the phone from the dentist's office where I am now booked into the schedule for next week. What unspeakable horrors await me. But there is an upside. I have a week to get out the various dental devices I bought over the years in a vain attempts to have a little machine do all the work while I stood there at the sink drooling into the mirror. These devices can do a kind of 'pimp my teeth' job. Surely it's not too late to gloss over everything and trick the dentist.

No. I don't believe it either. And I am nervous because the dentist will scold me for not taking better care of my teeth. And this will become the first of a series of expensive and painful encounters.

And there's no escape. I should have paid more attention to brushing. Well duh!