My Dental Adventure

So I had to get a tooth pulled.

The appointment was scheduled for two o'clock but I waited until almost three. Apparently there was an emergency, and I was ok with waiting. Somebody clearly needed emergency treatment and that's fine by me.

After the tooth was removed, I was doped up pretty good on Novacaine or whatever the dentist used. I did seem ok to drive, I just couldn't talk very well.

What do you know... I get pulled over for having a brake light out on the way home. I'm only about a mile and a half from the dentist and I wasn't impaired as far as being able to concentrate on driving or muscular coordination. What I couldn't do is talk. At all.

You can probably guess what happened. The cop thought I was very, very drunk. So I took the breathalyzer test, even after explaining I'd been to the dentist and that was why my speech was slurred. I don't blame the cope for not believing me - he'd probably heard that line before.

Here's what threw me. I hadn't been drinking any alcohol yet the breathalyzer registered a reading right at the legal limit. I swear I was almost arrested but since I was so close to home, the cop followed me back to my apartment and he called the dentist to confirm my story, that I'd been to the dentist.

I was scared to death but everything turned out just fine.

That's one hell of a day. You're lucky you didn't get thrown in the slammer. I bet cops hear "I was at the dentist" a lot from people driving drunk during daytime hours.

I'm not entirely sure it's legal to drive even under the influence of whatever the dentist gives you. Usually, they ask you to have someone else drive you to and from the appointment.

For surgery, yes, because you're given a general anesthetic in some cases. I wasn't under general anesthetic, it was just local anesthetic. In hindsight, I *should* have been driving by someone else but nobody else was able to help me that particular day.

Lucky you! That could have turned out much, much worse.

I know you don't want preched at but yes, you really shouldn't have driven yourself.

Whoa! Quite a story you have there