The only thing you want is for the pain to stop. Inside one of those enamelled lumps there’s a hole or a gap that needs to be dealt with. There seems to be a road crew in there , pneumatic drills are tapping right on the root of the nerve OUCH!. A thousand Enola Gays have come by to your very own Hiroshima right there in your mouth..YOW! A hundred lighting bolts KAPOW! – against the nerve that seems to dangle like a grappling rope from a black hawk helicopter, they keep tugging at the rope and your head swoons and fights like a boxer and you bite down hard on that pain all the way to the dentist.

An emergency call – have you got a moment spare anywhere TODAY!- a desperate plea, coming from a well of despair and pain, you just want this suffering to end.. SOON! Your fear of needles diminishes as you know that in a few moments the numbness will start to sweep in. A cold winter will frost your gum and the pain will be temporarily gone. From there there’ll be decisions – extraction or filling? Hmmmmm. preferably a filling – If it’s not broken in half or anything then yes that’s the best option. The assistant engages the sucking machine – Its pitch rises and falls like a vacuum cleaner as it gets stuck on the inside of your cheek you feel it pull and tug while it drips a cold salve of water near where the dentist is working. Now the gum is so numb you don’t feel that little hook tool pulling away at the edges of the affected area, but you can hear it and it sets the rest of your teeth on edge, your back arches up, your stomach muscles constrict waiting for the pain that never comes because you are wonderfully numb. The dentist dons orange glasses and the assistant doles out sculpting pastes to rebuild what’s left of the tooth……