Last week I had my first visit to the dentist in about 10 years (yes, I know that's bad... I know that there is a strong relationship between dental hygiene and life expectancy). But I found myself sitting in the dentist's chair being quite tense. There were a few uncomfortable moments, but for the most part it was a painless experience... and I knew that it would be (my reason for not having been to the dentist in 10 years is much more to do with laziness than dread), but I still found myself tensing up, and having to consciously relax my shoulders and arms. I wonder what it is that made me (and probably most people) tense up? Maybe it's just the expectation that an uncomfortable moment could be upon you at any moment?
In any case, I have a follow up visit this week, I'll try to be less tense for the non-un-comfortable parts.
-kdh
3 comments:
I have a friend who is inexplicably fearful of blood pressure measuring devices. He gets very anxious when he feels constriction on his arm!
Yeah, I'm convinced that there is something about the dentist that's inherent. And I don't think it is necessarily always about the potential impending pain. I mean, a lot has changed in dentistry over the years and it's really pretty harmless these days.
What I figure is that it's just not comfortable to have someone poking around in your mouth - psychologically, I mean. The mouth is an orifice just like the others. And everyone knows that getting poked in the eye or visiting the proctologist is no fun. Admittedly, the mouth is a somewhat less sensitive locale, but it's still a private enough space that it's usually only shared with someone we'd be willing to kiss.
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