The Giggling Dentist.

So...you may remember my last dental appointment in Brisbane with the student dentist well, that tooth she filled has been causing me trouble again. For a while it has not felt right and yesterday it felt like there was a moving bit on it so I decided to ring the dentist this morning.A few weeks ago I popped into Stanthorpe Hospital to get it looked at but they said that they could not give out appointments but put me on a waiting list."How long will it take to get seen?" I had asked."Oh, I don't know but we are doing fine and getting through the list quite well," I was told.I was given a number to ring in case of emergency and so rang that this morning. It was an answer phone asking to me leave a message. I hate leaving messages so decided to ring back later but before I could the dental clinic rang me back.I explained the situation with the tooth."Are you in pain?" I knew this question was coming."Well, it was sore yesterday (it was slightly aching), but not so bad today.""Right, we are short staffed today but just a minute while I get this computer switched on..." said the woman on the phone.It took more than a minute to switch on so we chatted about the weather, the lack of rain, "Do you have any animals?" she asked."Just some chickens" I was able to say.Finally the technology kicked in and I was given an appointment at 11.50am.I got there a bit earlier as she had told me I had some forms to fill in. There was a guy in front of me in obvious pain, who said he was having sleepless nights but the receptionist couldn't give him an appointment."Ring tomorrow between 8.00 and 8.30 am" she told him."Oh, I will," he said walking off holding his face.Up steps I, a sheepish, guilty, painless Nick and ask for the forms. The Receptionist is all dressed up as if she is about to perform heart surgery though she is not yet wearing her face mask.I fill in the forms and hand them back and she takes me through to the clinic.I lie on the chair and the receptionist busies herself getting things ready, opening packets of mouth mirrors and pointy tooth pokers.'Is she the dentist?' I wonder, with them being short staffed.She isn't, another woman comes in, asks for my full name and date of birth and then asks what the problem is.I tell her."Is the tooth painful?" she asks"It was yesterday but not so much today " I say hoping they didn't kick me out there and then."I could hit it with a hammer and then it would be painful," says the dentist, "Would you like that?""Er......no.....not really," I say.She takes an x-ray of it and then lowers me horizontal and takes a look."Ah yes, the filling is degraded. Hopefully it will just be a straightforward refilling. I am just going to numb your gum with some liquid gel."She slips in the gel and sits back. I feel the gel slide off my gum and down the back of my throat and wonder if I should say something but I can't get a word in edgeways."I've just had some chocolate and feel quite happy," says the dentist. I wonder about asking her for some to improve my mood."It was dark chocolate and I don't usually like that."I am thinking I have never heard a dentist discussing their sugar addictions before. She did seem very giddy. I manage to get some words in..."Are you sure it was just chocolate and not filled with liqueur?" I say."Just chocolate but I don't know what was in the bottle next to it," she laughs."Right, you may feel a prick," she says brandishing a needle.I don't. The gel has thankfully worked.While she is waiting for the anaesthetic to work she looks at the x-ray."Oh, it's deep! Hopefully we won't hit the nerve.""What if we hit the nerve?" I squeak."Well, we might need root canal work or need to remove the tooth but I think we can save the tooth. I can tell that you look after your teeth......which is a nice change," she adds."Oh let's stop this and all go and sit outside. It looks such a lovely day," she giggles.We don't move and she gets the drill out and off we go. She gives a running commentary of what she is doing, first removing the old filling. I hate the drill and expect any moment for her to hit the nerve but she doesn't and the drill stops."Just stick your tongue in and see how deep it is," she says.I do. I can't touch the bottom."Heckghh!" I exclaim with tongue in cheek."This will be a bit bumpy," she says going back in with some other machine. It is like the tiny offspring of a floor polisher and a pneumatic drill and I don't like it one bit...and expect nerve pain any second but again I am spared it."Right, now to fill it," she says.She packs it in tightly and firmly, much more firmly than anyone has ever packed in amalgam before. She need two lots of it as the pit is that big and then she files it down a bit and uses something like sandpaper which while doing, at one point, it felt like I had her whole fist in my mouth."Right! Beautiful! O.K. I'm just going to carve my initials in it," she giggles and for the first time ever in a dentist's chair I am chuckling too.The ordeal is over."Well, hopefully that should be fine but we can't be sure we have got all the decay out and that some bacteria have got down to the nerve but you will know when you get more pain. Give us a ring if you do.""Thank you so much" I say, almost offering to buy her more chocolate....but I think she has had enough!