Dental Drama and Gratitude

What am I thankful for today?
Dentists and oral surgeons who wake up in the morning excited to poke around in people’s mouths.

It’s been 40+ years since I had a disastrous dental procedure that went horribly wrong and completely changed the way I would view future dentist visits. They were no longer an opportunity to sit back with my feet up and get a minty-fresh cleaning and a new tube of toothpaste. The check-ups became a too-long moment of high anxiety that included instruments of torture and the absolute assuredness that the local anesthesia wouldn’t numb my mouth and all my teeth would break into pieces and the suction thingy wouldn’t capture all the enamel particles. Admittedly, the anxiety and torture were self-induced. They had made themselves at home in a small corner of my brain and ever since then, when I enter the dentist’s office doors, they became chaos creators.

This morning I had surgery to repair the damage that was done all those years ago. Cue the black thunder clouds, irrational assumptions, and rapid heartbeats.

The pre-surgery paperwork included two pages that itemized all the things that could go wrong during the appointment. I knew about all of them in my head, but to see them in writing and affirming that I understand the potential risks was a bit overwhelming. When I got settled in that comfy reclining chair, the dentist told me that the needle pricks were going to hurt, even after the numbing gel, but I wouldn’t have any more pain during the rest of the procedure. He was right. They hurt. A lot. And that new anxiety brought the tears.

I was a 64-year-old woman sitting in the dentist’s chair with tears rolling down my cheeks. I kept saying to myself, Just breathe. You are fine. It’s going to be OK. Please, Jesus, help me hold it together.

Isn’t it amazing how our fears can completely undo us? Have mercy.

This oral surgeon is really, really good. There’s never been a reason not to trust him. In all my pre-op appointments he and his team have been just amazing. And yet, I turned the volume up on my crazy thinking, and shut out all common sense and my recent good experiences. I was back in that dingy dentist office 40+ years ago, dreading what I thought would happen.

The little team of three obviously knew I was a bit stressed. They did such a gracious job of keeping me informed on what they were doing and commenting often about how good everything looked. The dental assistant, Amanda, gently patted my shoulder between her suctioning and told me everything was going well. Bless her.

At the end of the procedure, they were all thrilled with how things had gone. I simply said, Thank you, Jesus. Sweet Amanda responded, Yes. Thank you, Jesus. (I think she may have just been relieved that I made it through without falling apart.)

I’ve known for a lot of years that one of the gifts Jesus gives us is peace. That our fear doesn’t need to overwhelm us because HE is with us. And yet, in this small dentist’s office in St. Paul, fear got a grip on me. It caught me by surprise.

Friend. Dear friend. If fear is tugging at your heart these days, you are not alone. AND … you don’t need to be overwhelmed by it.

In her beautiful blog this week, Ann Voskamp wrote: “Anxiety is a function of divided attention. When we divide our attention, we make ourselves anxious. Our lives fall to pieces when we give anxiety the power to shatter our peace.”

The better choice? Center on Christ.

Before I left the dentist’s chair, Amanda offered me a hand mirror so I could see the work that had been done. With that overhead big, round, bright light still on my face, I looked in the mirror and all I could see were … chin hairs! Good grief! Without even thinking, I said rather loudly, I need to pluck! They started laughing and said they understood, because who has lights at home that are that bright to highlight those hairs that could have been braided? Amanda said she was sorry that she didn’t have a tweezer with her. Again, bless her.

We all probably have fears that are much bigger and more all-consuming than oral surgery.
Let’s not let any of our small or big-time fears distract us from the Fear Remover and Peace Giver: Jesus.

“… casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]. (I Peter 5:7 AMP)