Lesson 3, part two

I stepped into the room, hung y coat on the hook in the corner then made my way to the chaise. I lay down, crossed my ankles and put on the goggles the hygienist proffered and closed my eyes.

“Any changes in your medical history?” She was somewhere on my right

“No.”.

“Good, we’ll get started.” I heard the click of a switch and the swoosh of hydraulics. “Let me know when you’re comfortable.”

The chaise shifted position until my head was low enough to make it easy for the hygienist to work. The wheels of her stool squeaked in close.

“Open wide.”

I lay back, opened my mouth. The scritch, scritch, scritch of the tools on my teeth was the only thing I could hear for a few minutes and then I began to notice the radio playing classic rock in the background.

“Turn left a bit.”

I did as asked. Water was sprayed into my mouth followed by sucking sounds and the gurgle of a drain. I lay listening to other sounds floating into my awareness; footsteps in the hall, a phone ringing, a door opening and closing, laughter, and finally the rumble of vehicles passing by.

“Almost done.” Something gritty and whirring pressed against my teeth one at a time. Mint flavored grit lodged between my teeth and under my tongue.

“Final rinse. Swish and spit.” Water sprayed along my gum line knocking the grit away and a hose sucked it all out of my mouth. We repeated this step until all traces of the grit was gone. The hygienist dabbed at my face removing extraneous debris, removed the bib and reset the chaise to its upright position. “Don’t stand up right away.”

I sat up, removed the safety glasses and opened my eyes. She held out the requisite bag of goodies.

“We’re all done. See you in four months.”

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This was an interesting exercise for me. I chose to be blind at the dentist’s office because I had an appointment that lasts about an hour and I feel relatively safe there. Since this was an experiment, I waited until I was taken back to the hygienist and sitting in the chaise before closing my eyes and putting on the safety goggles.

The first thing I learned from this process was that without my eyes, my awareness of sounds seemed to spiral out as time progressed. Taste and smells were minimal for me in this location, but would be another layer in another situation.

The second thing I learned was that it is very hard to describe the sounds I heard.

The exercise was useful to me because I was reminded that there are other details of description that can be used to enhance a scene.