One cavity
One cavity, a blood pressure timeout, and another mouth guard for my midnight pastime of grinding my teeth are the latest items to add to my “I hate the dentist” list.
What is a blood pressure timeout? That is when your blood pressure skyrockets so high, they refuse to look at you until it drops. “Whitecoate syndrome” is the slang term for it. I knew I hated the dentist before but when they started taking your blood pressure before every cleaning, I really started to see what that actually looks like.
I take medication for blood pressure so I am used to doctors being critical of it, so I was a little surprised that it was 148/110 today. I got to sit in the room for 20 minutes and remember all my anxiety tricks and reminding myself to take a slow breath in for 4 counts, hold for four counts and exhale for 4 counts. Over and over.
And victory! Got it down to 138/96 (apparently acceptable for drilling, scraping, and polishing). I get to go back in two weeks.
Great.
