I WENT TO THE DENTIST THE OTHER DAY

The area around the tooth was frozen.

I wasn’t anticipating any feeling any pain, and throughout it all I didn’t. However, I was in the familiar position: lying back, mouth wide open, a contraption was inserted into my mouth that squished my tongue down and spread my cheeks apart. The assistant help a tube in there that, I’m not sure what it did but I think it, squirted a steady stream of water into my mouth that was mostly sucked away by the aforementioned contraption. The excess water, on its way, as is its nature, to the lowest spot, trickled into my throat. I kept my throat closed, but I had to swallow from time to time.

All that conspired suddenly to create a feeling in me of being trapped.

There was even a sensation that was like … drowning. My heart began to beat faster. My breath became shallower. I imperceptibly constricted and recoiled into the chair. All this I noticed happening only after I became aware of a glimmering of expanding panic. Ever so distantly.

This awareness gave me a choice.

So, rather than allow the panic to overwhelm me and do everything I could to bust outta there, I began to soothe myself.

First, I relaxed my rigid tongue, and let it fall away from the plastic thing that was holding it down. Then I took control of my breath without forcing – I just slowed and deepened it ever so gently into my diaphragm. I deliberately, with attention, swallowed a little of the excess water in my throat. You know, swallowing isn’t easy with your mouth pried wide open and filled with a bunch of stuff including a good measure of the dentist’s fingers. And last I scanned my body, encouraging every rigid bit of it to let go. It did. The panic subsided, and I knew I wouldn’t drown. The dentist and her assistant were none the wiser.

Of course I was in skilled, safe hands.

The danger, witnessed by my body – not my rational brain – perceived a threat to my well-being and automatically engaged in a defensive, protective response. My being was beginning to gather itself into a burst of survival energy, but I was able to calm myself to prevent a full fight or flight response.

We need to become more in touch with our biological responses in our daily lives.

We are mammals, and we have a nervous system that has evolved through the millennia to keep us safe. Our nervous system isn’t subject to our rational brain. When there is a perceived threat to our safety, the body reacts. It’s a common experience, but the defensive response of the body is designed, or has evolved, to be temporary. We gather in energy for a protective response, then ideally we release it when the danger is passed.

But for some reason we don’t release it. We may be walking around in an aroused state of defensiveness and not even know it. We may even be holding survival energy from early childhood. Living every day in this state is not good for us. Learning to release it and relax is essential for our long term health and wellbeing.

One final observation.

The muzak in the dentist’s office was wall-to-wall 70s pop tunes After it was all over we bantered about the pros and cons of 70s pop music. She admitted being partial to it. A guilty pleasure: the Bay City Rollers. Oh my. Can I trust a dentist who loves the Bay City Rollers? Could you? In my opinion, in terms of pop tunes, the only thing that saved the 70s from being a complete wasteland was Bruce Springsteen.