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I've been going to the same dentist since I had baby teeth.

She was a horror.

I'm serious. I'm pretty sure some the things that were done to me while I sat in her chair could be qualified as torture...

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but I will say that I think I have irreparable emotional scarring.

Anyway, as I was saying, I've only ever had one dentist and she and I go way back -- not by my choice, as you may have guessed.

A few years ago I started hearing other people's dentist stories and I made the unfathomable discovery that not all dentists were insane-o, heartless child-haters (again, I'm only being slightly dramatic). So I decided to stop enduring the frightening misery that was my semi-annual dentist appointment and shop around for a new one.

And then life happened and apparently a few years passed and finally I knew it was time to stop putting things off and actually get my butt back into a dentist's chair. My mom told me about her dentist whose office happens to be a four minute drive away from my house and that was enough for me to give him a shot. I scheduled an appointment for a consultation and this morning, I stepped out my front door and headed over.

It may be a four minute drive, but it's about a twenty minute walk and seeing as I'm car-less, walking was my mode of transportation. So while I was walking over, I had plenty of time to think about where I was going. And I found myself coming to an interesting conclusion rather quickly.

Going to a new dentist is a lot like going on a first date. Except so much worse. Because this person that you're about to meet is going to maybe say hi and then immediately jump down your throat. Talk about rounding first base! Okay, granted, it's a lot less intimate than I'm making it out to be, but still. I was legitimately nervous as I walked along my neighbourhood streets towards this stranger's office. This stranger that would soon be acutely acquainted with all things my mouth.

Of course, by the time I got there, I'd mostly calmed down and turned back into a normal human being with normal thoughts and reactions and everything was totally fine. As would be expected, three different strangers poked my teeth with weird pointy things and mirrors and some fancy x-rays were taken, all just to inform me that I still don't have any cavities. And bonus: I got to watch cable TV for almost an hour. So overall, pretty awesome.

But I still stand by my theory that it was a little like a first date. Am I alone in this?