Went to the dentist this morning. First time in four years. The cleaning was $25. The cleaning methods were, uh, different. Or maybe technology has changed. My mouth (and face) was sandblasted with baking soda. And then some "ultrasound" thing got out my coffee stains (within the first 10 seconds of examining my mouth, said "Oh, you must drink coffee") and made a crazy dentist-office-type noise. But nothing hurt, just regular dental awkward drooling, etc. But at one point, during the sandblast, I realized the dentist had rested his palm on my forehead. It didn't bother me, but it made me laugh then drool more.

Last time I went to the dentist was in Guatemala City while closing my Peace Corps service. At that time, age 26, I had never had a cavity. I expected the worst today since so much time had passed. Yeah, so I have my first 2 cavities. Small ones, he assured me. So like a responsible big girl I'm going to get them filled immediately (tomorrow). Another $25 per filling. Since I've never done this before, I asked the dentist about how they deal with cavities. After explaining the drilling (YIKES!), filling, and the shot of anesthesia (YIKES!) he assured me, "Don't worry, I'm a very good injector."

I was thinking of pretending this little visit to the dentist never happened and not getting these cavities filled because it sounds scary. But then I told myself how lucky I am to have all this dental work for only $75 total, and in a very nice and clean office, with an English-speaking dentist who is not scary, and that I even have the money to take care of my teeth considering even in the States so many go with out dental care, not even mentioning dental care in the rest of the world. So that said, of course I'll suck it up and go get my face drilled tomorrow morning.