Paralyzed

"Ma'am, we're ready for you." The dental assistant says, propping her foot against the door, only to reveal a sliver of the sterile room behind her.

She is holding a clipboard in her right hand and a pen in her left. I gather my belongings-- my cell phone, wallet, and keys--and then follow her into a back room. She tells me to sit in a white reclined chair with a weird, crinkly plastic covering and that someone will be with me soon to do x-rays. I check my phone anxiously, knowing I have a shift to work in an hour and a half.

The attendant comes in and smiles briefly at me before asking me about my birthday. "04/18/1994", I say.

Her long nails clack away on her keyboard as I interject her workflow.

"This will be done in an hour?" I ask.

"Yes", she says, placing a weighted cape over my shoulders. "Open", she adds, grabbing a plastic piece for me to bite down on with my back teeth.

"And I can return straight to work?" I mumble.

"Please don't move your mouth while I take the picture." She sighs, having me bite down once more.

I gag so profusely my eyes feel like they will pop out.

"They will numb you a little for the cleaning, and then you'll be just fine to drive to work." She reassures me.

I relax a little more into my seat, though I still gag and slobber all over her as she finishes up the x-rays.

Once she leaves, the dentist comes into the room shortly after, "Hi!" He says a little too joyfully, as most dentists do. His teeth are perfectly straight and offensively white.

"Taylor, right?" He says, looking at my chart.

I nod up at him, kicking my feet together nervously.

"It looks like we're going to do a general deep cleaning today. We're going to numb your mouth, so there is no pain, okay?" He reassures me, reclining my chair back further and swinging a robotic light over my face.

"Pain?" I whimper, cranking my mouth open as he sticks his big thumb around my jaw, feeling around. I taste the bubble gum flavored latex and gag once more.

"No pain," he chuckles, looking over at his assistant, who approaches with--what appears to be-- a bunch of very sharp objects. I am under the impression that all of these very sharp objects will be going into my mouth for this cleaning. I immediately tense up.

"Taylor," the dentist says, as a new masked face appears above me, "this is Debbie. She will be assisting with the cleaning today."

I smile up at her, blinded by the fluorescent lights. I feel the formation of sweat on my forehead.

The dentist continues, "She has some Novocaine that we are going to shoot into your gums. Is that okay? It's not painful, and it will assure you don't feel any part of the cleaning." I nod, mouth open, eyes wide.

She takes the syringe full of numbing gel and flicks the tip of the needle. She places the needle into the gum near the back of my mouth, and I wince. She then does another shot in my gums near the front of my mouth and does the same on the other side. They wait a few moments, preparing more torture devices, and ask me how it feels.

"Good, I think." My tongue feels fat in my mouth, and everything I try to say sounds like gibberish. They cut straight to the chase and place a metal contraption in my mouth that buzzes like an electric saw and press it on the surface of my teeth. It sounds as if someone is shrieking at a high velocity while an insane amount of pressure is being forced onto my teeth, all the while the sensitivity shoots shockwaves up into my ears.

"Are you okay?" The assistant asks, probably distracted by the repulsed expression on my face.

"I can feel it. I think I need more." I cry.

She then gives me more numbing shots in my gums, and my whole face feels like it's the size of a grapefruit. "How's that?" She asks, furrowing her brows.

I just nod, and they continue on with the cleaning. From this point on, I can't feel anything, but I know what they are doing, and it still sounds as if they are grinding my teeth off with a tiny saw. Once the procedure is finished, they hand me a small plastic sack full of floss and toothpaste and send me on my way.

Soon after walking outside towards my car, I realize that my entire face is still numb, and I have to be at work in five minutes. I quickly change into my work shirt in my car and slip my shoes on and speed away. As I'm driving, I try to move my tongue around my mouth. Nothing. I feel absolutely nothing. I pull up to my work and park, and run inside.

I grab my name tag and place it on my shirt. My boss nudges me onto the front lines to help a customer as it is already pretty busy. I try to force the words "How can I help you," but I soon realize the person in front of me is my crush, and all that manages to come out of my paralyzed mouth is a fat tongue and a giant stream of drool.