My First Time

It’s my first time. As I lie back my muscles tighten.
I put him off for a while searching for an excuse,
but he refuses to be swayed as he approaches me.
He asks if I’m afraid and I shake my head bravely.
He has had more experience,
but it’s the first time his finger has found the right place.
He probes deeply and I shiver; my body tenses;
but he’s gentle like he promised he’d be.
He looks deeply within my eyes and tells me to trust him –
he’s done this many times before.
His cool smile relaxes me
and I open wider to give him more room for an easy entrance.
I begin to plead and beg him to hurry,
but he slowly takes his time,
wanting to cause me as little pain as possible.
As he presses closer, going deeper,
I feel the tissue give way;
pain surges throughout my body
and I feel the slight trickle of blood as he continues.
He looks at me, concerned, and asks me if it’s too painful.
My eyes are filled with tears but I shake my head and nod for him to go on.
He begins going in and out with skill
but I am now too numb to feel him within me.
After a few moments, I feel something bursting within me
and he pulls it out of me.
I lay panting, glad to have it over.
He looks at me and smiling, warmly, tells me, with a chuckle,
that I have been his most stubborn yet most rewarding experience.
I smile and thank my dentist.
After all, it was my first time to have a tooth pulled.

That’s an email that has been around since forever. Interesting read for those who have never encountered it before, though, huh?

I did go to the dentist, though. But not for a tooth extraction, but rather, for a prophalyxis. In layman’s terms, I had my teeth cleaned. Yes. For the first time.

Somehow we just never seemed to have the money for petty things like dentists. And how’d I get my teeth pulled, you ask? Why, with thread! I wiggled my tooth until it was soft enough to get pulled out. No anesthesia or anything.

However, since free trips to the dentist are part of our company’s employee benefits, I intended to take advantage of this one. So I scheduled a visit for my first ever prophylaxis with Diana, and we met in McDo to get to the clinic together. I misread the address and thought that it was in Salcedo Street, but it turned out to be in Salcedo Village.

So what I thought would be a 5-minute walk turned out to be a hell of a lot longer. Somehow we got there exactly on time for our appointments, sweaty and all (I was badly in need of exercise, anyhow). After filling out forms, my name was called and I got to meet my dentist.

I couldn’t see his face, because it was behind the mask, but I so liked his friendly demeanor. Yes, yes, I actually developed a crush on a man behind a mask who was cleaning my teeth. So sue me. He asked me if I bled whenever I brushed my teeth, and I nodded (as if I could express my assent verbally. He had his tools in my mouth!).

He said that was because my gums were inflamed due from the buildup of food residue. He explained that I should have my teeth cleaned at least twice a year to avod this. He also said that after this, I would notice that I would no longer bleed everytime I brushed. He was right! And to think I thought this was due to hereditary sensitive gums!

He then scheduled me for another visit, this time to have my teeth undergo “repair.” That means cavity fillings. I am lucky to have stratight rows of teeth, and therefore have no need of braces or any major stuff like that. He actually even asked if I had braces before! Okay, okay, enough with the teeth obsession, already!