This is just an odd little story from my life.
About twenty years ago, I
had a bad cavity and I figured the dentist would just pull the tooth. But he said they tried to save teeth, and
recommended a root canal. But since root
canals are specialized, the one who did them worked with like ten dentists in
the area and she wouldn’t be back to that office for a couple of days. So he did the prep work and I came back in a
few days for the rest of the root canal.
While they were getting
ready, I was sitting there getting nervous.
I’m not a fan of doctors in general and dentists in particular. But the root canal dentist noticed my heart rate
was up, and asked and I said it was nerves, but she wondered if the novocaine,
or the super-novocaine they used had gotten in my bloodstream and was working
me up. So she said she’d wait a few
minutes and let me relax some before they started.
I think from previous
visits, I had picked up that the assistant was from … Colombia and had been a
dentist there, but when she moved to the US she wasn’t certified to be a dentist
here. So she was working as an
assistant, while going to night school to be a US dentist.
While they waited for me
to calm down, the root canal dentist asked the assistant what they were
studying. And the assistant replied with
… something. It was some medical jargony
thing that probably translates to … I don’t, braces. And the root canal dentist replied with something
like, “Oh, I’ve forgotten half that stuff.”
Now, I understand that she
focused on root canals, and that was what she did. You don’t call her in for your basic
cleaning. But as someone already
uncomfortable at the dentists, with a little chemical goose to my nerves, hearing
the dentist go, “I don’t remember half the stuff I learned in dentist school,
now let’s start drilling,” wasn’t the best thing to hear. After a few seconds, I was able to remind
myself that she had specialized in root canals, and it was a tad funny. If half my face wasn’t numb, I might even
have told them that.
