So...I went to the dentist today

[Horse with no Name]

First of all, I got my teeth cleaned. The hygienist is a very nice lady. The entire time her hands are in my mouth...she is saying stuff like what is wrong with the schools is that the churches aren't in them anymore. What is wrong with the hospitals is that the churches don't run them anymore. On and on and on. And on.
Anyway...so my next part is to actually see the dentist to have my bridge replaced. Their policy is to take your blood pressure before they do anything...so they took my blood pressure and it was 178/116.
I do NOT have high blood pressure generally...so I am just assuming that listening to the hygienist raised my blood pressure to those levels. I wonder what happens when I encounter freepers instead of well-meaning little ladies?

[BoneDaddy]

1. They need a change of shorts?

that is my guess

[OhioChick]

2. I don't know how

you can handle that drivel. I know that I couldn't.

[babylonsister]

3. First off, what is she doing talking about religion and hospitals while

in your mouth? Not appropriate at all imo.

[Horse with no Name]

14. Being in the heart of the Bible belt

I get used to being preached at. I just didn't realize I reacted to viscerally to it. I felt fine.
The church thing came up because our local hospital which is run by a corporation...has no confidence from the town.
It used to be run by the nuns...and most of the locals harken for the days when the church owned it. It did more for the community and its employees...however, it didn't do reproductive services for women and that is a bad thing.

[MichiganVote]

4. What ever happened to talking about the weather?

[lancdem]

7. lol

[UnyieldingHierophant]

5. Did she mention where Noel Devine is going?

sorry...inside joke.

[silverweb]

6. Exactly what happened to me once.

The hygienist got busy with her hands in my mouth and started preaching her particular fundie faith at me. I've rarely been so angry in my life and never went back to that office.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

8. Check this out

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24find.html?ei=5070&en=43a2852b79836c80&ex=1172034000&pagewanted=all">A Shocker: Partisan Thought is Unconscious

Sure made me feel better to read that. I thought I was weird for having such strong physical reactions to wingnuts in my midst!

[marions ghost]

47. Here's the article:

A Shocker: Partisan Thought Is Unconscious

New York Times By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: January 24, 2006

Liberals and conservatives can become equally bug-eyed and irrational when talking politics, especially when they are on the defensive.

Using M.R.I. scanners, neuroscientists have now tracked what happens in the politically partisan brain when it tries to digest damning facts about favored candidates or criticisms of them. The process is almost entirely emotional and unconscious, the researchers report, and there are flares of activity in the brain's pleasure centers when unwelcome information is being rejected.

"Everything we know about cognition suggests that, when faced with a contradiction, we use the rational regions of our brain to think about it, but that was not the case here," said Dr. Drew Westen, a psychologist at Emory and lead author of the study, to be presented Saturday at meetings of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in Palm Springs, Calif.

The results are the latest from brain imaging studies that provide a neural explanation for internal states, like infatuation or ambivalence, and a graphic trace of the brain's activity.

In 2004, the researchers recruited 30 adult men who described themselves as committed Republicans or Democrats. The men, half of them supporters of President Bush and the other half backers of Senator John Kerry, earned $50 to sit in an M.R.I. machine and consider several statements in quick succession. (snip)

More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24find.html?ex=1172293200&en=01266b1bd4d17678&ei=5070

[Kiouni]

9. you should have bitten her! n/t

[Ediacara]

10. I don't know how you could handle that without biting her hands

LOL I almost did that when my dentist was talking about global warming and how he has a few doubts it's human caused, but probably is...

[texastoast]

11. I have the same problem with my dentist

He is a complete repuke, but does great work. I really liked his dental hygenist utnil she started talking to me about the wonders of Tim Lahaye (like you, with her fingers in my mouth). Then I started having a really great time with her, stopping her between procedures, to give my point of view. I kicked her ass on Founding Father and constitutional principles. She just didn't quite know what to say.

I'd really like to find another dentist, but the one before this one got busted for cocaine.

[lonestarnot]

13. Me too. Quit that fucker in a heartbeat! I'd rather see a quack.

[lonestarnot]

12. You might want to consider diapers for your next visit.

:shrug: depends...

[Hardrada]

17. Yeah, if you're taking some diuretic too!

Yikes!!

[lonestarnot]

23. Being a tortured captive audience is enough to make one crap their pants.

[Time for change]

15. I hope your dentist referred you to a doctor or you intend to see one

That kind of blood pressure is not something to take lightly.

[Horse with no Name]

16. Nah

My normal blood pressure is 110/80.
I'm not concerned. This was purely situational.

[Time for change]

24. Seriously though

You should get it checked out. Just to be safe. That's pretty high to be purely situational.

You may very well be right, but if you're not you will need treatment.

I'm a doctor, and that's what I would tell any member of my family who told me a story like that.

[Horse with no Name]

Thanks.

I will drop by my doc's office tomorrow and have him check it out.:hug:

[Time for change]

36. You're welcome

If it's back to normal when you get it checked out, then you were almost certainly right. But to repeat an old cliche, 'better to be safe than sorry'.

Good luck. :thumbsup:

[dflprincess]

18. And the worst part is, she's got her hands in your mouth so all you can say is

"Argh" - or something similar.

I've had the same hygenist at my periodontist's office for 20 years and I just love her, but even after all these years, I couldn't tell you what her politics have been. She knows mine, but only because she was outside once when I pulled up and she could see my bumper sticker. She did take a very vague slap at Bush last time I was there, she had her hands in mouth at the time so all I could do was chuckle.

[Ilsa]

28. The worst part is that she has sharp tools in your mouth, so

you're taking a chance if you talk-back...

[spoony]

44. Funny you should say that

A couple of weeks ago I was at the dentist, a different guy from my normal dentist because she's out of town, but this fellow kept stabbing my cheek with the other end of one of those two sided jabby jobs. I seriously began wondering if he was doing it because of the old Kerry T-shirt I had on :P

It must've been the blood pooling to my head in that chair though, 'cause my other shirt was buttoned up over the t-shirt, lol, so he couldn't have seen it anyway. He was just a bungler!

[tblue]

19. I always figure if their judgment's that bad, do I really want them performing procedures on my

person? Don't go back. Going to that particular dental office is hazardous to your health!

[Horse with no Name]

20. Problem is

In my area there isn't getting around it.
It doesn't matter where I go...it's there.
My Doctor has Fox on in the waiting room. I could change...but guaranteed any other ones I went to would as well.
This town has ONE Liberal Doc. He is a pediatrician whom I have very enlightened conversations with...but am just a few years too old to have him as my doc.
When you live in small towns...sometimes idealism is an unattainable goal when choosing professionals.

[texastoast]

26. Oh, no no

I go to my kids' pediatrician for most everything (even though my youngest is in his teens). I go to my older son's pediatric opthamologist still. If you like that doc, ask him to treat you. I bet he will. And screw what the small town neighbors think of it (because you KNOW it will get around).

[tblue]

29. Ooh, poor you! Where do you live? Of course, you are always welcome here in California.

[Horse with no Name]

31. In the piney woods of East Texas

Thanks for the invite!

[lonestarnot]

34. I'd say I'd have to fucking move tomorrow! Outta there! ick!

[seabeyond]

21. back in the 60's & 70's no church in our schools, back in 40's my father

did not have church in schools.

[Horse with no Name]

22. Me either.

I can't remember when this was so. I don't even think it was so on Little House on the Prairie.
However...people talk about it like it was yesterday.:shrug:

[Hardrada]

27. It's almost like some sort of rural urban myth!

[Ilsa]

30. Yeah we need to start asking,

"What the fuck are you talking about?" :)

[seabeyond]

40. i do. i dont get an answer from a single person. stops them in their tracks

we have a silent time in our schools now. wasnt in there before. so we have more church in school today than my fathers time, or my time. granted i was not in the south. az and calif. but my father was mid western

[Bridget Burke]

42. My schooling was in Texas (near Houston) from the early 50's on.

The day began with the Pledge of Allegiance & "My Country 'Tis of Thee." There was NO prayer--or "silence."

There may have been the occasional prayer at a football game. But I really never experienced the Religion Filled Public Education that some people pretend to remember.

[Ilsa]

25. Next time rremind her via marker board about molesting ministers,

protitute-seeking preachers, and pedophile priests.

Yeah, yeah, she has sharp objects in your mouth, so, nevermind.

[Catherine Vincent]

32. Why dentists feel they need to talk on and on as they're fixing your teeth?

It doesn't make the time go by faster. And they know you can't respond back to them. I rather listen to the music in the background.

[greenbriar]

33. I think I would be telling the dentist I do not appreciate being preached to

when I am in positions to not be able to leave

[northofdenali]

35. Actually, HwnN,

I'd have bitten her. :evilgrin:

[Bozita]

37. I experienced her twin. (groan) ... Then her hubby was transferred to Texas

I'm sure that she finds living in a red state a rapturous delight.

So full of beliefs, so empty of facts.

So damned sad.

[JanMichael]

38. I'm 38 years old and went to public schools in 4 states.

No religion in any through the 70's and 80's.

The tech needs to quit inhaling the gas.

[benddem]

39. get another hygienist

that's terrible. I'm sure that raised your b/p. But do have it checked out.

[bumblebee1]

41. Churches aren't in the hospitals anymore?

You could have fooled me. My first day in the hospital, there was a female volunteer from one of the offices. She came into my room for a visit and asked me if she could contact my priest or minister regarding my hospital stay. I told her no. She then prayed with me.

[deaniac21]

43. The HORROR!

[Omphaloskepsis]

45. That would drive me insane..

Luckily I live in a part of the country where that is unlikely.

Actually, my barber often goes on with rants about Iraq (I agree with his stance on the war). I imagine that would make me uncomfortable if I supported the war. Maybe people should shut the fuck up and not talk politics with the customers.

[marions ghost]

46. the big picture...

WHAT IS LIVING in this culture doing to us?!? Physically and mentally?

We are now living under a repressive regime, watching our civil liberties corrode, pouring our resources into obscene "wars" for profit, making our whole economy dependent on China, watching the middle class being destroyed by the rich who pay no taxes, putting up with "energy surcharges" because of the mismanagement of the wars and Katrina, etc. etc. etc.

And how did we get here? Partly because "God needs to be in the White House" was sold to a large segment of the delusional god-fearing population. The truth is that Satan's band of hijackers are in the White House. And everyone pretends it is a legitimate government.

It's enough to make your blood boil any day of the week. I am not surprised at all that your blood pressure went up so high while being preached at in a dental chair, HWNN. Many of us are having a fight or flight reaction to what is going on in this country today. The body responds very quickly to the state of the mind. This constant pressure is taking a terrible toll. Most of us have enough to worry about without taking on anxiety about the health of the country. We should resent being in this position. We are fighting for the survival of everything we care about, make no mistake. But if those in power REALLY had any principles, we wouldn't have to devote a good deal of our time to fighting on the home front.

What we are seeing these days makes thinking people wary, depressed, confused, paralyzed...alternating with angry, irritable, reactive, scared. The anxiety is so ingrained now that it seems normal. Our society is sick, very sick, and this affects our mental and physical health in countless ways. Anytime you have to live with such a great sense of loss on a daily basis, it is damaging. The greatest sense of loss may come from knowing that we have been victimized by our own leaders, by those we have empowered. This is a crime that has been done to us by the worshippers of Baal--nothing to do with any sort of God or loving, guiding spirit.