Today I had dental work done. Generally I have very good teeth and have had no issues. Well, that is except for one interloper in my gob. There is a single irksome tooth at the back which the dentist describes as being the black sheep. Why? Because it seems softer than all the others and has now had its second filling.

As part of the process I got an injection in my mouth to ‘numb the area’. This is a weird experience and something that I can only describe as havin an effect as close as I would expect the aftermath of a stroke to be, without actually having a stroke. Once it kicked in the whole right side of my jaw, tongue and cheek were numb. The result was that that side of my face had some difficulty in responding to what the left side seemed fine at doing. Speech went rather odd, and one side of my face seemed to loll no matter what expression I tried to pull.

Thankfully feeling has returned and all is well in my gob again. But it was a sobering thought at what stroke victims have to cope with all the time.