Dental Visit

When I was young, I became afraid of needles. You see, my mother had Type I diabetes (it eventually killed her), and every morning she would give herself a shot in her hip ... which was eye level for me, as a child. I'd see the needle go in, a tiny spot of blood appear, and a quick grimace of pain on her face and decided then and there I didn't want anything to do with needles.

Flash forward a few years to when I finally developed a cavity in one of my teeth. The dentist had to give me a shot of Novocain before he drilled and, thanks to my fear, it felt like the consarned thing was plunging straight through my cheek, and I freaked out. Well, my father convinced me the next time I had to go that I could "man up" and go through the filling without the painkiller, and he was right. If you go to the dentist regularly, they catch most cavities before they get too deep and the drill doesn't come anywhere near a nerve ending.

Until this one time, when the drill hit a nerve, and I had to be scraped off the ceiling. Now I pretty much ask them to make me as unconscious as possible.

You see why I'm pretty excited about this breakthrough.

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At the busy dental office where I work, one particular patient was always late for his appointment.

Once, when I called to confirm his appointment, he said, "I'll be about 15 minutes late. That won't be a problem, will it?"

"No," I replied, "we just won't have time to administer anesthetic."

He was early.

[Terri Spaccarotelli in Reader's Digest Online]

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WELCOME to YOUR WEEK: We are smack dab in the middle of Aviation History Month, National AIDS Awareness Month, National Pet Cancer Awareness Month and Sweet Potato Awareness Month (rich in carotene, the yam will help boost your immune system). It's American Education Week, and Global Entrepreneurship Week. Today is America Recycles Day (and, indeed, we put our recyclables at the curb today), Wednesday is Homemade Bread Day, Thursday is the Great American Smokeout, and Friday is Have a Bad Day Day.

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