Simply Beautiful Smiles

OK my ninjas, let’s talk.
I freaking hate going to the dentist. I really hate it. I have horribly sensitive teeth (yes yes, everyone says that; trust me on this one), and just the thought of that metal dental hook of death gives me the sweats. I’m not exaggerating.
Because I have soft teeth (thanks, Dad!) I have always been vigilant about going to the dentist every 6 months… until I got a job that was 100% travel, and going to a 2-​hour dentist appointment required me to take a 1-​week-​increment of vacation time. So… I hadn’t been for a checkup since 2007. (Don’t judge; I wasn’t happy about it either.)
Anyhoo, I deemed 2010 to be The Year I Get My Teeth Addressed. My teefs were even more sensitive, so I had to break up with my old anti-​nitrous dentist and find a place that did *sedation dentistry*. Enter «Simply Beautiful Smiles,» or the dentist formerly known as Bethel Dental Associates. When I called, I got an appointment for the next day.
I went in for my first checkup, and their office was easy to find: right next to Booth’s Corner Farmer’s Market. The place is huge.
When I sat in the dentist chair, I told them about my dental anxiety and sensitive teeth, and how everyone who says they have sensitive teeth and dental anxiety are liars and are giving people like me a wussbag bad name. They started to do a cleaning and after 2 seconds I had hit the ceiling 3 times and they said, «Yep, you’re a candidate for sedation dentistry.» So they sent me home with some prescriptions to fill, and some stuff to read.
They offer three levels of sedation:
Level 1 is just plain ol’ nitrous. That wasn’t gonna do it for me.
Level 2 is what I got: A crap-​ton of pills (benzos, mostly), plus nitrous.
Level 3 is «open heart surgery sedation» — administered through an IV.
They set me up with a 4-​hour appointment to replace some crowns that had gone wrong, a widsom tooth extraction, and a simple cleaning. They also handed me 5 prescriptions: three for heavy-​duty drugs (Valium, Ativan, and Vicodin), an antibiotic, and some funky prescription toothpaste. These guys are not screwing around. They take dental anxiety seriously.
They told me to take the Valium the night before my appointment to so I’d be sure to sleep well (very thoughtful), and then I was to take the three Ativans in the office as soon as I sat down in the comfy dentist chair. As soon as they kicked in, they added a bonus helping of nitrous (Would you like mint or orange nitrous? I recommend the orange) and the next thing you know you’re all done.
My procedure took three hours (not counting the first hour for the drugs to kick in), and I swear it felt like 45 minutes. I remember bits and pieces, and they were all pleasant memories. They let me listen to my iPod– I highly recommend listening to Air (soothing, groovy, hides the drill sounds nicely, etc).
Today (which is the day after the procedure) I feel fine; my jaw muscles are a little sore– this is to be expected considering I had someone’s arm in there for 3+ hours; and the corners of my lips are a little raw (also to be expected, and nothing that some lip balm doesn’t soothe).
Dr. Slysh (my dentist) is fabulous, tells horribly punny jokes (which is charming and disarming). His staff is wonderful and warm, they handle all of the insurance crap, so all I have to worry about is mah teefs.
I go back in two weeks to get my temporary crowns turned into the real deal, and sadly I will not need to be sedated. :-)