When my part of the world halted in mid-March, I figured the situation wouldn’t be remedied by March 31st, the date of my latest dental appointment. The clinic texted a cancellation a week later. They only accepted dental emergencies at that time.
Months later, I felt a potential dental emergency brewing among my left molars. Could’ve been the occasional lodged food despite nightly flossing. Even with that good habit, one needs a trained professional to pick and scrape at one’s teeth every six months.
Instead, I trained my electric toothbrush on the troubled spot, gave it an extra flossing and rinsed with a “restorative” mouthwash in the hopes that I could triage the situation. All I could think of was dying from some oral abscess because I didn’t want to catch the plague by going to the dentist.
I’ve never hated going to the dentist. So, this feeling was a new thing for me. If anything, I was rather nerdy about regular dentist trips.
I was far too elated when the dentist’s office texted me out of the blue to schedule an appointment. Similar to the excitement I had as a child when the tooth fairy left money under my pillow. Except for this time around, I didn’t want any teeth to fall out. Bad enough seeing blood after brushing. OK, TMI.
Following the new protocol, the receptionist asked me a series of COVID-19 related questions as part of the appointment process. On the day of the appointment, I parked and sat in the car to call the clinic, letting them know I had arrived. I came as close to my appointed time as I could because I didn’t want to wait in the car too long in triple degree heat. Even though I’d parked in the shade with the windows rolled down, nothing beat good ol’ AC, which had apparently gone out at some point while my car sat mostly idle over the past couple of months.
A few minutes later, the receptionist called. She unlocked the front door, stepped out, and pointed the thermometer gun at my head. All I could think was, “Of course the time I don’t have AC, I’m going to blow this appointment.”
Fortunately, she checked my temperature again once we were inside the clinic after their AC had a chance to work its magic. Clearing that hurdle, I learned that they’d charge me a $10 fee for the extra COVID-19 cleaning, which I was assured most dental insurances would cover. (Ha, not my insurance!) At least my dental/vision insurers had lowered the premium by $10/month, so perhaps, in a way, they had covered it.
Although everyone was masked and had a face shield, the appointment went smoothly. Probably the most enjoyable dental visit ever, because in a sad way, it was a social outing. You know you’ve been in quarantine too long when a trip to the dentist counts as a “social outing.”
I was so excited to break the monotony of my weekly routine that I forgot to hand the dental hygienist my night guard for a cleaning. So, there’s another thing that has to wait until 2021.