Lingering Numbness; Or, How Novacaine + Beer = Bad Idea

As is usual with me, I found myself getting upsold at the dentist recently. So after wasting one afternoon not getting the regular teeth cleaning I was scheduled to get, I got to waste another morning on a deep scale cleansing of my "near bone-loss levels" of "under the gum plaque buildup."

Now as someone who suffered the massive indignity of wearing braces in my thirties (cut to scene of Sara on a date with Merlot-stained formerly clear brackets...hello lovely!), I want to take care of my teeth, and so if my dentist told me he needed to scrape my teeth with a razor blade and charge me $500 for the pleasure, I'd probably do some mental gymnastics to think it was worth it since I'd already sunk so much time, money, and personal embarrassment into my teeth.

So they could only do 1/2 of my mouth at a time - and yesterday was the right side of my mouth. Four shots of novacaine later, I left the office looking and feeling sort stroke-victimish. And I mean no disrespect to anyone who has had or has had a loved one suffer a stroke - I know the horrors of this first-hand, and I am not making light of that condition. But when I tell you from my eyebrows to my neck were numb on the right side of my face....all day long...well, this was a weird situation.

I decided to stop feeling sorry for my numb face and agreed with my husband we'd still go to Trivia Night. Two beers later, and only slightly more feeling in my face than when I arrived, I had a bit of a headache on top of enormous jaw pain.

Drug and alcohol intake aside, we still managed to win Trivia Night!

ps - Despite our winning streak, we may opt out for a few weeks. We really don't want to become those asses who come each week to show off how geeky and useless their trivia knowledge is.