I remember when I was a kid “dental treatment” was still rendered as a horror, perhaps the new thing was the rough anaesthesia of “laughing gas”

I’ve had 3 teeth removed and implants drilled into the jaw, the first one really kinda hurt and OTC stuff only turned it into a dull constant pain but by the second I was just getting local anaesthesia and by the third I wasn’t even relying on the codeine

I got the first 2 down by LA, first was .7mm with a buildup bone graft and second was .5 mm

Third was in Portland and my dentist referred me to a guy on the same floor of his building who was like “you gotta get .7s and buildup grafts, wtf even is a .5 you’re dreaming!”

And that’s when I really grokked the power of saying “I’m gonna get a second opinion.”

(I live on the east side of Portland, Dr. Nick and Lionel Hutz were period riffs on eastside professionals; Dr. Hibbert and the Blue-Haired Lawyer were westside)