I can take the tenderness but not the taste

Made my second trip to the dentist this week (it seems one more is in order after this) and they finished the 'deep cleaning' needed to attack my rather decidedly stubborn gingivitis. Next week we tackle the small small cavity. Three visits in all is not bad after a 7-year hiatus.

Doctor S very efficiently applied the anesthetic to my upper gums and within minutes I felt numb and she proceeded with her cleaning, sticking the pointy thing in my mouth and deep into my gums....it was only slightly painful (anesthetic!) and apparently very bloody.

Because of the blood I was prescribed a mouth wash for the next....year. Morning and night. After I brush and before I floss. I am gross. It is gross. On Tuesday I tried to eat breakfast after the mouth wash and could not not taste my food. At lunch I could not taste my food. Finally at 8 pm that evening I could taste my food.

My gums are still a bit raw and tender after the cleaning. Kind of like I imagine they are when you are a baby and your teeth are coming in. I actually enjoy flossing b/c it feels like scratching an itch. But I could do without the mouthwash, thank you. Thank you very much.

One thing to note though, when I left the Dr's office and wandered around my neighborhood in an anestheticzed haze, I kept touching my upper lip, which felt indescribably soft. Softer than my lower lip. It got me thinking. I touch myself all the time and never feel like that. (ok no need to go THERE, you know what I am saying) But I was thinking about the sensation of touch and how there are two things going on when I touch my own lip. I feel my lip with my finger and I feel my finger with my lip. Both body parts are sending signals to the brain simultaneously.

Which brings me to the question; was my lip soft because of the anesthetic? Or because for once, I could feel my lip with my finger without my lip feeling my finger? (Does that make sense?)

Does the way my finger feels somehow cancel out or negate or equalize the standard lip softness and the medicine allowed me to take a perspective on my own person that I had never experienced? I would have given anything at the moment to have a friend around to verify the varying level of softness of my upper and lower lips...that is weird I know but come on, isn't this interesting?