The Great Dentist
I was on my back as the drill ground away.
The dentist had been drilling, chipping, picking, sticking, prying, probing, hammering,
and anything else that I could think of as she worked on my tooth.
I was having a root canal redone. It felt fine but the dentist said (and showed me on the
x-ray) that it might be better if I had it redone.
I was in the chair for over two hours.
Anyone that walked in would have seen me lying there as the assortment of drills and picks
lay neatly on a cloth.
They would have pitied me. I don't think anyone likes going to the dentist.
I was in agony. I was uncomfortable. I was impatient and needed to get out of that chair
pronto.
I could only take it another few minutes.
Anyone looking at me would have sympathized with my feelings and completely understood
when I asked if I could get up out of that chair.
The only problem is they would have been completely wrong.
Yes, I was in extreme discomfort. Yes, I needed to get up out of that chair. Yes, I did
ask the dentist to stop. Yes, I did get up.
Anyone would have sympathized, but everyone would have misunderstood.
The local anesthetic worked fine. The entire right side of my face was as numb as a
fingernail. I couldn't feel any pain. Although the machinations of the dentist, the sounds
and the vibrations weren't the most pleasant in the world, they didn't
bother me at all.
I even had a bite block in my mouth so my jaw didn't get tired from holding my mouth open.
I was quite comfortable from the
dentistry.
Then why was I in such agony?
I had to use the bathroom!
I had gulped a quart of fresh fruit juice a couple of hours earlier and the fruit juice
was now processed. I had to go to the bathroom. When you've got to go, you've got to go.
There I was with a dentist on one side and a technician on the other side. Both were
working diligently and expertly, one mining my tooth while the other vacuumed and rinsed.
I lay perfectly still on the outside but all I could think of was getting to the bathroom
and the need was getting stronger.
It was another MountainWings Moment.
How can having to use the bathroom in the dentist's chair be a MountainWings Moment? I
realized some things lying there.
First, what is really bothering you is often not apparent from the outside. What others
see is not the real problem. It looks
like it should be the real problem, but it's not.
Others may see you snap at a co-worker or the kids or your spouse and think, "Boy,
they sure have irritated them."
That's not really what's bothering you at all. It wasn't your co-worker, kids, or spouse,
it was something else that they can't see but you feel it on the inside.
The list of those things is too long to begin to mention but you know some of yours. I may
snap at my wife because I can't find
something that I'm looking for but it's really not the lost thing, I was frustrated from
something else.
You know the phenomenon all too well.
Second, you can't voice it clearly.
With a face as numb as fingernails, a bite block, picks, drills, and wash and vacuum tubes
in your mouth, you can't talk clearly.
I opened my eyes and mumbled,
"Aahh guuaa uuuoo uss uhe aaarmmm."
"What?" the dentist asked.
"Aahh guuaa uuuoo uss uhe aaarmmm."
They removed the toolbox from my mouth so that I could speak clearly but my face and right
jaw was still numb.
"Aahh guuaa uuuoo uss uhe aaarmmm," I tried to articulate clearly.
"What?" she asked again.
"Aahh guuaa uuuoo uss uhe aaarmmm," I repeated slower but with a greater sense
of urgency.
"Oh! You've got to use the bathroom - sure"
I was popped up and hastily asked, "wwwhaa iiss uhe aaarmmm?"
"What?"
"wwwhaa iiss uhe aaarmmm?"
"What?"
"WWWHAA! iiss uhe aaarmmm?"
"Oh, It's down the hall to the right."
Often, when you are in pain or dire need, people can't understand you. They can't relate.
They don't know why you can't just grin and bear it. They don't understand your
predicament and how you feel.
You are desperate and the world doesn't understand.
There are some situations that you can't articulate to others for a variety of reasons.
Maybe it's too personal. Maybe you are embarrassed. Maybe even you don't know how to put
it in words or maybe what happened was so rough that you had to numb yourself to the
memory to eliminate the pain.
Often the thing that's really bothering us is not the thing people see. It's an inner
thing.
An inner thing that we often can't speak.
A thing of the heart and soul.
For those kinds of things maybe you need to get in a quiet place where you can talk to
someone that does understand.
Often things of the inner spirit require a greater divine spirit to heal. There are some
problems that can only be fixed by the
manufacturer.
As I left the dentist she gave me a powerful painkiller prescription. "As soon as the
anesthetic wears off, you will probably be in a lot of pain and you will need this,"
she said handing me the prescription.
I spoke to The Great Dentist about it. I never took the prescription. I never had even the
slightest trace of pain.
Get quiet and speak your unspeakable things. Speak to someone that understands and won't
judge nor condemn.
Someone that can take away the pain.
The pain that you can't even talk about.