I look like I've had a stroke.

How long does it take for numbness to wear off? I had my FIRST! EVER! cavity filled this morning. It was a pretty horrific experience. I can handle shots and all that jazz, but the mere thought of having an actual hole in my tooth worked on by a man who wears jeans to work through me into a bit of a tizzy. Not to mention the fact that I noticed both the dentist and the assistant watching the Today show more than once while their hands were in my mouth. Not cool at all. A good thing of note is that apparently shots for numbing the gums have decreased in length. I had quite a few dentist visits that involved mouth numbing a few years ago (damn concrete driveway that decided to jump up and pulverize my teeth!), and I swear to god that I thought the needle would poke through my gums and go right on through to my brain. I have no clue how such a long needle is used for such a tiny space like gums.

So back to my original point: how long for the numbness to wear off? It's been 3 hours now and I still look like I'm the gross side of the before/after pic in the doctor's office. My coworker actually kicked me out of his office, because he couldn't accept the fact that he'll probably have a stroke sometime in his life. (You can imagine how this conversation got started, given the state of the sagging right side of my face.) Little or big, don't most people have some version of a stroke when they're old and feeble? Don't get mad at me. I didn't make the rules. It's their game and we're all just playing in it.