Six hours

Remember that sword I was mentioning a couple of posts ago? Well it dropped today. Painfully. My dentist's appointment was moved up two days as there had been a number of cancellations due to the weather, and I'm now wishing I'd been one of those who's stayed at home. Six hours I was there. Six bloody hours! Now, I know that going to the dentist doesn't really rank that highly in the pantheon of life-challenging events, but show me someone who enjoys such visits and I'll show you someone who's either a masochist or someone who actually works at the surgery.

Now, in the past, I've been used to seeing the dentist and having his or her (it's so difficult to tell these days) undivided attention for the duration of my visit. However, the practice I've attended this week piles in the patients, then the dentist flits between them like one of those old variety acts you used to see where they kept dozens of plates spinning on long, wobbly poles. Often they would then purposely smash the plates at the end of the act just to show you that they had been using real, breakable china rather than plastic, which always seemed to defeat the purpose of the entire act; it would be like a doctor performing complex heart surgery then shooting the patient at the end.

Where was I?

Ah yes...the dentist would prod around, sigh, make some notes, sigh again (never a good sign), numb the area of the mouth he was about to invade, then leave. He'd then work on another patient or two before returning to complete whatever it was he had to do to me. Over the course of the day this process was repeated a number of times, so you can see what I mean about spinning plates.

By the time it was all over, I felt like I'd had the orthodontic version of Mike Holmes and his team at work in my mouth, and I'd had to pay for the privilege. At least I now have a couple of days rest before travelling North at the weekend, and hopefully I will have regained all the feeling in my lips and cheeks again by then. I feel like a cross between Mick Jagger and Alvin and the Chipmunks at the moment.

Six hours!