I was woken at 4 am this morning by The Git. He was in pain with his tooth. I had to take him to the Emergency Dentist last month. He has to have one little filling. I am a Dental phobic. I have had too many bad experiences with Forces Dentists. Enough about me. Fortuitously we had an appointment for Joshys first filling today. I did manage to be a good Mother and got him to the Dental surgery. I did not mention the fact that I had fainted at the last appointment. He was rather polite and did not mention it, also. He was quite relaxed, got into the chair and was fine with a really lovely Irish Girl....until she started the drill!
Let us go back a bit shall we. I met a Trainee Dentist when I was about 17. His name was Heppleston. He hung around with our Rowing/Waterski-ing/Running crowd and was frankly, completely Bonkers! His Ma ran a B and B in Scarborough and he would entertain us after drinking too many beers at The Cask by taking us back to his Ma's in Scarborough. His Ma had an enormous ( for the front room) Organ. Yeah, okay, do all the jokes you want. Seriously there was this massive Organ in his Ma's front room and he would play Led Zep on it! He was jailed in 2006 for four years for a £450,000 fraud.
I always remembered 'Hep ' and shuddered, hoping that he would never, ever work on my teeth. He was training in London, committed to his cause and utterly mad. Onto my work as a care worker, some 25 years later. I encountered a 'Flying Dentist'. I met him a few times on my rounds in Plymouth. He was gregarious, flirty and suggested to me at one point that I would 'pay him in kind'....eeuugghh! Paul Carlin, defrauded the NHS of £100, 000. He may have upset me but he was wonderful with the elderly. I do remember how gentle you were Paul, despite your love for money.
Back to the surgery. Waiting in that room. Trying to keep Joshy calm. Him, smelling the smells and listening to the sounds. The smells and sounds always upset me but I managed to calm him and got him into the room where a lovely Irish Girl was speaking to me. Erm....seems that I was so upset and concentrating on The Git that I could not manage to hear ANYTHING! Yep that's right...Miss Geraldine Kehoe had to deal with me dribbling and pretty bloody bonkers. I had temporarily lost my power of speech and hearing!
I managed to hold on to reality for a moment and her words made sense at last. It was rather like finding a voice through a fog. Her lovely Dental Nurse was a Star. We managed to get Joshy on the chair, but that was all. He was so badly stressed, poor little man. Josh is going to be referred to a specialist clinic as he has ADHD, ODD and is Autistic. I have to say that he was a very brave boy today though! We managed to stumble down the stairs. There were four people coming up. None of them nodded or said thank you. They all had a terrible look of fear in their eyes.
Going downstairs, we were pretty raw. A very young girl said. 'Stop, do you need to sign any forms'! After the gentle care we had experienced in the surgery, I asked her to say 'PLEASE'. Another, more experienced Receptionist, managed to communicate with me.
Why? in this world of technology do we still have to go through so much? I suppose it a bit like asking 'Why Do Women Go Through Childbirth? Can we trust our Dentist. It really is a big thing to trust him or her. Can he/she understand how hard it us for us? I guess I'll find out soon.
Nite All
Muse xx
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