The Filling – a blogpost on emotion and pain

This extract comes from a post by CPN member Kyle Ridgeway.  Kyle’s work concentrates on opening up physical therapy to a more diverse range of positions, including the influence of areas previously beyond the scope of most therapists’ thinking – engineering, mathematics and philosophy.  This post looks at experiential dimensions of pain experience, referencing the all too common experience of going to the dentist.

Some people utterly despise going to the dentist. I get it. The face and mouth are a locus of sensory innervation, and a dentist’s tools don’t exactly exude comfort. The grinding, the drilling, the scraping. Someone else’s hands in your mouth. Bleeding gums. Mouth held open, saliva building up, and plaque flying like saw dust in a wood working shop. Me? I actually enjoy it. At least the cleanings. The feeling of having my teeth scraped clean and polished is somehow satisfying. Afterwards, my mouth feels great. I’d go to the dentist every week, if I could. Recently, my dentist told me I needed a filling replaced. The current one was worn out, discolored, and not as smooth as the dentist desired. I’ll spare you the details. She informed me it would likely take less than 30 minutes. Not a problem I thought. So, I made the appointment.

Two days later, I sat into the customary recliner chair. A partner of my usual dentist would be performing the procedure. “Simple” he said. “I just need to numb that tooth and surrounding area and then we’ll get this done and get you out of here.” I panned to my right to see the syringe and needle.

And, that’s when things got interesting…

The rest of this blogpost can be found by clicking this link.