good morning dentist

I had a denist appointment this morning. A cleaning and three fillings. The dentist had tried to convince me to split the fillings up into two different appointments, but I assured her that doing them all at once would be fine. Well, when she started the drilling for the first filling, a thought quickly came to mind: OUCH! She hadn't given me any novocaine, and I had forgotten to ask for it. Before the second filling, we had a little chat. We discussed the wonders of modern medicine and local anesthetic, but she pointed out that since the two remaining fillings were on different sides of my mouth, having novocaine for both would mean my entire mouth would be numb. Then she mentioined the make-a-second-appointment option again, but I was set against it. Then of course there was the option of getting novocaine for just one filling, but how would I choose? While we were discussing my choices, I suddenly started thinking about how hungry I was, and how much I wanted to get a coffee and a muffin after my appointment... I knew that coffee and a numb mouth probably wouldn't be the best combination, so I started thinking seriously about the no novocaine option. I swear I'm not a masochist -- I was just really really hungry! The dentist promised that she'd be quick. And she was. Still, it wasn't the pleasantest of experiences. What is it about the pulsating action of a dentist's drill that allows so much pain to be delivered when it's positioned in just the right place?
I wish I could say that the day will surely get better, but unfortunately, I'm sitting here in the HKU library like a convict awaiting execution, waiting for my "well woman" exam. I'll leave you to figure out what kinds of lovely procedures that will involve. And though it would probably make a very interesting topic for my next post, I can assure you that I won't be blogging about it... *

* In case that last paragraph sounded a bit too foreboding: as far as I know, there is nothing wrong with me --I'm just going for a routine check-up.