My wife was the editor of her college newspaper and she was a newspaper reporter shortly after we married. She is an amazing writer when she has the time and opportunity. She is a very gifted and intelligent woman. I only say this because I am trying to lay the groundwork for how articulate, intelligent and wonderful she is. She can face almost any crisis situation with much more control and resolve than I can. The only exception to this is when she knows that she has to go to the dentists office.
A few months ago I noticed that she looked to be in pain when she bit down on something. She did go to a dentist and he said that there was some infection and she could either have the tooth extracted or try and have a root canal. He said the root canal would be no guarantee of saving the tooth and it may have to come out anyway. At any rate, she had to take care of the infection first. Well, she took the antibiotic and never went back to the dentist. I would ask her about it and she didn't really want to talk about it. "I'll take care of it when I'm ready." That was the best answer I got. Some of her siblings also have this pathological fear of dentists. I am not really sure as to why. Last week I told her to call the dentist and set up an appointment. "I really didn't like that dentist. He had an attitude." That is what I got this time. Folks, I consider myself a patient person, but this was getting ridiculous. Finally we set up an appointment with another dentist and everything is set. Now I went with her to this appointment for fear that she would put it off like the last time. Or worse, skip out on the appointment all together. Long story short, everything went well and the offending tooth is now gone. :) Truly, I am proud of my wife for facing this fear.
This experience has made me wonder why we are so captive to a phobia of any kind. In most cases that thing or act that we are so afraid of never comes to pass. If it does, it can usually be dealt with head on and resolved. I used to be afraid to ask girls out directly for fear of rejection. I wish I had that one to do over. :) These fears keep us from living our life to the fullest. Am I alone in this or do we all have these things that scare and intimidate us? I suppose the biggest fear that I have is to not try because I was afraid. That would surely be the biggest tragedy of all.
I have to go to the dentist with my partner as she is also afraid but I am glad she can find comfort in me being there. I went through enough scary moments in my life especially at sea but now at my age I have less to fear and fear less.
ReplyDeleteI agree. the saddest fear is the fear to do something different because in this life taking risk, trying out something new is the key to success. but there's one thing that's good about fear. it's fear in the Lord! When you have this, you gain WISDOM. a wisdom that comes from the lord.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless...
Your Daily Word
I can relate to your wife's fear of dentists ... well, not in the present tense but when I was younger. As a child my parents brought me to a torture doctor who had no patience whatsoever with scared children. After my experience with him I never wanted to see a dentist again. This continued until my father introduced me to a great dentist when I was in my late teens. Since that time I've had no fear at all. The only thing that scares me is the cost..lol.
ReplyDeleteYour wife must have gone to the same awful dentist I went to as a child. He was the twin of the one in the play "Little Shop if Horrors". To this day I have to suffer in pain for a long time until I drag myself to the dentist. Kudos to you for helping her get past it!
ReplyDeleteShe did have some bad experiences as a child. Don't really know if she is past it, but she told me she liked this dentist. Thanks Nona.
ReplyDeleteHallo, Khris!
ReplyDeleteJudging by what you said on the first paragraph you weren't home at night :-).
If serious I think a "dentist fear" is a harder case than other fear. We can manage with phantasmagoric or enforced fears if we need (question is how hard we need it).
But in the dentist's chair our subconscious mind simply don't allow us to separate with a part of our body (oue tooth). That's all. I fyou walk on the edge of the roof you know it is dangerous, but if you will stick with railing and will not look down you will survive even more you will not get a scratch. But if your dentist has adjudged your tooth theres nothing to be done here:-).
Greet your spouse from me!
p.s. I know wherefrom your writing skills at last ;-)
p.p.s. and don't ask me when I was at dentist last time...
Thank you Ugis. I won't ask. :)
ReplyDeleteI too am afraid of the dentist and have been putting off a root canal for quite some time now. I'm glad to hear your wife is well.
ReplyDeleteI try not to let my fear of things dictate my life, but sometimes the fear can seem impossible to overcome.
Thank you Jamie. Good to hear from you. I too find myself fearful of things or circumstances from time to time. I have also found that courage is doing what needs to be done despite the fear.
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