A Visit Chez Dentiste

Why do some of us avoid the domaine of doctors?  Are we afraid of what we might find out?  Decide that if we don't acknowledge something it will just disappear?  I like to think it's because we know best and don't want to waste the valuable time of doctors and dentists who have people who are actually sick to care for. 
I had a toothache once.  It came on as a sharp pain.  I went to the dentist and had a root canal.  It forever scarred me.  A few years later, days before leaving on holiday, I had another toothache.  I immediately went to the dentist.  There were x-rays, tapping with tiny metal hammers, poking with sharp objects...no problems.  It must be a sinus infection.  I immediately forgot about it and it went away.  Fast forward a few years:  same problem, same visit (different dentist - in Andorra), same poking and prodding, same diagnosis: sinus infection.  Same result: I ignored it and it went away. 
Am I learning something?  Apparently not!  It is spring of this year and, once again, I wake up with a pain in the left side of my face and a tooth that feels "high"...you know, taller than the rest, out of place, sensitive... all that.  Once again it is days before we are off on holiday, this time to Portugal for a bit of golfing.  I decide it's a sinus infection.  After 2 false alarms, I know this routine.  I ignore it.  After 5 days of trudging around golf courses in Portugal I am having a hard time talking because of the pain in my face.  Thank Bacchus we have wine with dinner, which dulls the pain so I can eat, followed by much talking and laughing of course.  I decide I will go to the dentist and subject myself to the dreaded root canal when we get home.  Amazingly, by the time we got home it didn't feel so bad.  It was getting better.  It was a sinus infection after all, I sigh with relief.  Then it came back.  Fine, I'll go to the dentist.  I force myself to the phone only to discover that it's a holiday and they're closed.  I'll call next week.  It's not too bad that week, so maybe I'll give it a bit more time.  It got worse again.  Now I start to remember all of the horror stories: A friend who, through neglect (!?!) ended up getting 3 teeth pulled; my b-i-l, who almost lost 4 teeth because the infection in one tooth spread; a cavity that was neglected and ended up costing thousands in total mouth overhaul.  After vacillating for 2 1/2 months I finally, actually dial the phone to make an appointment.  I explain my symptoms and ask for 'un rendez-vous'.  They're fully booked I'm told.  Okay, I say cheerfully, I'll call back next month.  Not to happen; they have me in their clutches now and are not about to let go.  I have a problem and they will fix it!  I get a call back an hour later: they have managed to work me in Friday at 5:00.  Great!  Last appointment on the last day of the last week before the August holidays begin!  This ought to be good!  By now my cheek is throbbing, so I meekly go to meet my fate.
The dentist is a very kindly man who gently pokes and prods, and tells me (I think, I am still having problems with my French dental terms) that he's quite certain that it's not a tooth (his fancy video x-ray machine just crashed so no pretty pictures) because (why didn't I think of this!): I don't scream in agony when he hits it with a hammer; and I don't/never have had any cavities in any of those teeth.  Go figure! He's not done with me that  easily, however.  He calls a doctor, explains my symptoms, makes an immediate appointment and sends me off.  The doctor does his own poking and prodding, we chat a bit, then he writes me 3 prescriptions: 2 to clear up the 'chronic sinus infection' and one for an x-ray if I'm not cured in a week - because then it must be something else.  Duh!  It's been a week.  I'm cured. 
Footnote:  We don't have insurance to cover all of this.  My total cost:  20 euros to the dentist, 20 euros to the doctor, and 6 euros for the med's to cure me.  My 11 weeks of stupidity?  That was free.