NotAloneISee
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2008
- Messages
- 240
Now that sounds weird to someone who doesn't have a dental phobia, but can others relate to my "joy?"
I went back to the dentist after a eight year hiatus due to fears. During that eight years, I never chewed on the left side of my mouth. In fact, I think it started a couple years prior to that. I just never mentioned that a tooth was tender. (I think the dentist said that the tooth needed work during the appointment before I quit going.) Anyhow, I quit using the left side.
During that time about three years ago, I decided that it was stupid not to use one side of the mouth out of fear. So what if one tooth was tender? It was probably just needed a workout.
One night when we were out to eat, I began chewing on the left side for the first time in many years...and promptly broke a tooth. 
No kidding.
Yikes!
That did it. As "Doug" on the American TV Show The King of Queens said, "That side of my mouth has had an Out of Order sign on it for a long time." So did mine...again.
Anyhow, within the past year, all of my dental work was done. Fillings were done. The broken teeth (yes, another one broke later not due to chewing) were extracted. There was no known reason NOT to chew on the left side.
Yet I was a bit apprehensive. That decade long fear was hard to dismiss. Even still I worried...would a tooth break?
A week ago, I developed an infected tooth. The pain as many of you know is excruciating. There was no way I could chew on the right side. Since my right side became incapacitated for the first time in my life, I HAD to chew on the left side. And I did.
Now I have become as proficient with the left side as with my right. Finally after close to a decade, I am actually using the left side of my mouth!
Can anyone else relate too the relief and excitement that this realization has brought me?
I went back to the dentist after a eight year hiatus due to fears. During that eight years, I never chewed on the left side of my mouth. In fact, I think it started a couple years prior to that. I just never mentioned that a tooth was tender. (I think the dentist said that the tooth needed work during the appointment before I quit going.) Anyhow, I quit using the left side.
During that time about three years ago, I decided that it was stupid not to use one side of the mouth out of fear. So what if one tooth was tender? It was probably just needed a workout.
One night when we were out to eat, I began chewing on the left side for the first time in many years...and promptly broke a tooth. No kidding.Yikes!
That did it. As "Doug" on the American TV Show The King of Queens said, "That side of my mouth has had an Out of Order sign on it for a long time." So did mine...again.
Anyhow, within the past year, all of my dental work was done. Fillings were done. The broken teeth (yes, another one broke later not due to chewing) were extracted. There was no known reason NOT to chew on the left side.
Yet I was a bit apprehensive. That decade long fear was hard to dismiss. Even still I worried...would a tooth break?
A week ago, I developed an infected tooth. The pain as many of you know is excruciating. There was no way I could chew on the right side. Since my right side became incapacitated for the first time in my life, I HAD to chew on the left side. And I did.
Now I have become as proficient with the left side as with my right. Finally after close to a decade, I am actually using the left side of my mouth!
Can anyone else relate too the relief and excitement that this realization has brought me?