Yesterday was Root Canal #2 Day. It is not one of my cherished days and one I would not recommend enthusiasticallty to anyone. It wasn't noticeably worse that Root Canal #1 day but that still doesn't make it a favorite day of mine unless, upon reflection, I note that it is not to followed by #3, at least not directly, in the near future. That being said it's not as bad as it used to be; no worse than having a cavity filled or a crown fitted or being punched in the mouth by a bare-knuckle boxer. Both Root Canal Days were remarkable for the fact that three full syringes of novacaine were injected into my tender gums. "This is not a good sign," I thought. You never want to have a procedure where there are a lot of other people watching, in a gallery or auditorium or as a teaching moment for a lot of students. You never want word being passed around excitedly that "you gotta be in Surgery Room Four at two o'clock - you aren't gonna want to miss this." You'd rather have the endodontist yawning with boredom at the repetition of a routine procedure.
(I did ask the endodotist when she decided to specialize in root canals. She said when she did her first one in dental school she immediately knew this was her path. Whew . . . . )
Anyway, as a great proponent of meditation I pride myself on my ability to see the Good in any situation or to at least try to find something Good but, in any case, in every case, to look at the travail unflinchingly. Meditation is not the ability to make a bad thing go away or to change a bad thing into a good thing but to calmly reflect on the nature of the thing at hand. I was happy to note that when I was going into the procedure room for #1 I loosed a quip that made the staff chuckle - I can imagine that most people are a little grouchy and not loosing happy quips. I mean . . . it's not the fault of the staff that I don't take care of my teeth or that I have shitty teeth or that my teeth, as a general rule, are past their "Best Used By" date.
My revelation for #2 was that I was able to sit in the chair while waiting for the anesthetic to take full effect and . . . just sit in the chair. I was in the chair - no getting around that or away from it, either. But I wasn't upset and I wasn't trying to pretend I wasn't in the chair. I was waiting to get a root canal and I was grateful that I had the money to pay for this outrageously expensive procedure and that I had the willpower to put myself in the position to get a problem solved. I didn't do that when I was drinking. I tried to run away from the problem. If my car started to make an alarming noise I just turned up the
But I resolved my greatest gratitude for the existence of Novocaine. Just a hundred years ago the solution for a bad tooth involved a pair of pliers. Thirty years ago we had anesthetic but it wasn't as effective as it is today.
I have one absolute guarantee. I will NOT have any more problems with those two teeth that no longer have functioning nerves.
