I had a plan. Having had a successful experience with a dentist, I now knew what pain free dentistry was like. For my next venture to Dr. Guenther I would attempt to teach him about modern dentistry. The plan was simple. I would first tell him about the numbing paste. I assumed that even if I didn’t know its chemical name, he would, once I described it. My next instruction would be on the use of Novocain, of which I was sure he was familiar. On the off chance that he did not have any of those materials at hand, I explained my system of raising my arm to signal him, should any pain be involved in his work. I was confident that I would prevail against the Dentist of Pain. Boy was I wrong!
Dr. Guenther explained to me that he knew all about those pain remedies and had all along. Why he hadn’t used any of them he wouldn’t confide in me. He agreed to all of my requests. Unfortunately for me, his timing was off. Having the material to use and knowing when to use it were concepts that I forgot to instruct Dr. Guenther about. He put the numbing paste on my gums, before it took effect, he gave me the shot of Novocain, and before it took effect he began drilling into my nerves. I’m sure he was drilling into my teeth, but from the pain perspective it didn’t feel that way. That left my last resort of raising my arm to signal pain. He had that covered too. He leaned against me as he drilled in such a way as to prevent me from lifting my arm at all. By the time I was done, I had endured all of the pain that I was supposed to have avoided and went home with a face that was completely numb.
What neither Dr. Dee nor Dr. Guenther had explained to me about Novocain was that it was important to let the numbness wear off on its own. It was not necessary to test your inner cheek by biting it to see if it was still numb. For while it was numb, you couldn’t feel the pain of biting your cheek, but when the numbness wore off, all of those bites became wounds. It only took me one experience to learn that lesson.
I never had to go back to Dr. Guenther again. My mother got another job as dental assistant for Dr. Norman, so again I would change dentists. My nickname for Dr. Norman was Nutty Norman. He introduced me to Nitrous Oxide (also known as laughing gas) as a way to help relax prior to getting Novocain. Though he did well with my teeth, I think he must have had a leak somewhere in his Nitrous Oxide hose since his patter always sounded as if he, not I, were under its influence. With a high pitched, fake voice he would holler, “How’re you doing up there? See any astronauts yet? How’s Mickey Mouse doing? Let’s do some nursery rhymes.” While this may have worked well for a small child, you must remember I was high school and college age when Nutty Norman was working on my teeth. Add to that that my mother, as his assistant, was standing right next to him. There was no place to hide.
My mother eventually left that job when my sisters and I had all graduated from college and were living on our own. It’s no wonder that when I had to start looking around for my own dentist near where I lived and worked, I chose not to take any advice from either of my parents.
My new dentist was great. He provided headphones so I could listen to music if I wanted, which was fun for a while. I got to have Nitrous Oxide, paste and Novocain whenever I had work done on my teeth. I was in control, confident that good quality work was being done and feeling great. It wasn’t until I reached the age of 50 that I finally got the courage to stop using Nitrous Oxide and bear up to potential pain. Luckily I didn’t have to.
