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Today I had to go to the dentist for my every six months checkup and teeth cleaning.  Earlier in the day I found myself feeling anxious and somewhat nervous about my upcoming appointment.  Come to think about it, I feel that way pretty much every time I have to set foot in a dentist office.  

Why is that?  I did not walk into the office with a sore tooth or sensitive gums.  I am glad to say that I have kept my cavity-free streak going at 26 years, 10 months, and 15 days.  I have never had a major traumatic event happen while at the dentist.  However, that uneasiness feeling was still present.

If you fear going to the dentist, you are not alone.  Between 9% and 20% of Americans state they avoid going to the dentist because of anxiety or fear (according to webmd.com).  Maybe it is the horrific sounds of drilling and the spit-suction-thingy.  Maybe it is opening one’s self to judgment from another human being that is hard to face.  Maybe it is the almost medieval looking instruments (I like to call them weapons) with hooks, pointy-things, and the dreaded floss.  It is one of those few experiences in life that we have to reward and bribe little kids with candy just to get them in the door.  (By the way, I find that extremely ironic that we give kids candy for going to the dentist.  I guess they are simply maximizing their business by causing the cavities that only they can fix.)  Whatever the reason, people simply don’t like going to the dentist.

I want to personally thank my dentist, Phil Jackson, for making my dentist-experience the best it has ever been.  If you can, take your dentistry needs to Phil Jackson in Sulphur Springs, TX.  Every little dentistry chair has its own television that if you ask nicely can be changed to a channel you want to watch while they are going to town on your teeth.  Also, every dentistry chair has these incredible massaging chair inserts.  All that’s missing is somebody fanning me with palm branches and hand feeding me grapes.  Not to mention the best dental hygienist to ever clean my teeth, Mrs Kaylyn Moss.  She’s got some awesome skills.  

While my small anxiety and dentistry fears still exist, they are a lot smaller due to the dream team of dentistry at Phil Jackson Dentistry.

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My best dentistry story I have experienced:

When I was still living in Nashville, TN I went to a dentist for a number of years that officially had the worst dental hygienist ever.  She was a tiny, Arab lady that looked as sweet as could be but had the attitude of a ticked-off general.  While she would clean my teeth, she would constantly yell at me and make me feel bad for my inefficiency to floss up to her standards.  She would take that instrument with the large metal hook, jam it directly into my gums, and then yell at me because my gums would bleed.  She would always respond with the same commands, “This is not good.  Your gums are bleeding.  You need to floss.  You need to floss!”  I wanted to shout back (but didn’t because of the fear I had for that lady), “You’re stabbing me.  That’s making me bleed you psycho!  Let me jab that hook into your gums and see if you would bleed.”  My sister and I would dread going to see who we cleverly nicknamed “the Floss Nazi.”    

What about you?  Do you have any good or funny dentist stories?  I would love to hear them.