Officially "a little different than others"

I went to the dentist today.

Most people hate the dentist. I am not one of them. I’ve always enjoyed going, actually. I like clean teeth – so much so that I brush mine in the middle of the night, whenever I get up to use the loo or whatever – and I always leave the dentist with that minty-clean feeling.

Today’s visit, however, was not for a cleaning. I needed a filling.

I didn’t have a cavity but I knew one was on the way – this is how OCD I am with my teeth; I ASK to have fillings before things get ugly; I think of it as preventative maintenance.

So there I was, in the chair, good to go. I got the shot, sat there, and waited for the left side of my mouth to numb up.

Part of it did, but part of it didn’t. So the doc shot me again.

This time, I could feel it. Not the needle going into my gums, but the freezing liquid, as it shot across my face.

Yes, face. Upper lip especially.

I told the Good Doctor about the sensation.

“That’s odd,” he said, leaning in to take a closer look. Meanwhile, the better part of the left side of my face was slowly freezing up.

By the time the stuff ran its course, I couldn’t feel a thing from the bottom of my nose all the way down, over my chin and half way to my throat. From the center of my face, things were frozen straight though to my ear, and up to my cheekbone.

It was really wacky.

The doc determined that for some reason, a blood vessel that usually sits back near the base of the jaw decided to run across my face instead – and it was the catalyst for freeze-o-rama.

“That’s not a bad thing,” he said, trying to assure me after, essentially, telling me I’m f’d up from the inside out.

“You’re just put together a little different than others,” he said.

I laughed again.

“You’re not the first guy to tell me that,” I said.