Mack had his return visit to the dentist today. He had his filling replaced and, apparently, while she was in there, the dentist saw something on the tooth next to the filling that she didn’t like. So she “opened” that one and put a little filling or coating in there, too.
Mack was very concerned with being numbed up. Last time, while numb, he chewed up the inside of his cheek, and hurt for days. So this time he asked the dentist whether he could skip the numbing agent. She told him she was dubious, but would ask me. I said it was okay by me if it was what he wanted. The dentist agreed to give it a try. But she warned him that if he moved around too much she would numb him up.
Apparently he held perfectly still. Even the dentist, a kind of taciturn person, was impressed when she told me that Mack had gotten two fillings with no numbing.
Nothing like a little pioneer dentistry.
Afterward, Mack competed in a track meet, taking 18 seconds off his previous best in the 1600 meters, and getting a personal record 7-6 in the long jump.