- dentist -

And once again i survived the dentist...
She wrote, with her sense of unsuited drama...

It turned out to be quite an undertaking, with 4 kids. The dentist has his practice in the town centre and there's no unpaid parking so we cycled in, but that turned out to be little fun in the drizzly rain. We arrived pretty damp - causing the usual invasion - and found a hook for all coats on the rack. The man in the waiting room smiled at us bemused. The three youngest checked out the oversized fish tank, for strange looking models and the oldest went through his i-pod, looking for groovy songs to while away his time. Mother felt the nerves disappear from her body and talked to the receptionist behind the desk who wanted to know who was who.

Dentists are not my favourite people. Not fair, 'cos this one does his best, and succeeds, to make me - and the kids - feel at ease, which is pretty amazing. No idea when The Fear Of Dentists started, but the lady (or: witch) we were with before our Balkan friend has got a lot to answer for (i recall her matter of fact way of saying that the tooth she was drilling was going to have to come out, and me looking rather pale at the notion, gave her the idea that running me down was a really good idea...). Funnily, the book (self-help, not novel) i'm reading at the moment said something about needing the drama caused by my fear of dentists as something to get a kick out of. The same as what Alan said, not so long ago, and i thought he was being a smart-alec. The trick given by the book i was willing to try out (go through the feelings and watch yourself come out the other end), and it appeared to work...

The dentist - familiar with my feeble nerves - was his usual cool self and was joking around with the boys about who was going to be in the dreaded chair first. It turned out to be me (living by example, they call that in Steiner terms), something which surprised him quite a bit. And me...
You might as well get it over with...

Perhaps the book helped. Maybe i'm getting to grips with my silly fears, have i got some sort of handle on my emotion...

Felix, Polly and I had no cavities, by the way. Max and Otto did...