I'm extremely afraid of pain. The sight of a needle sends me shivers and my knees would go weak. And I'm not talking about just the time when I was a kid. This has been my fear since young. So you can imagine what a nightmare it is for me to step into a dentist's office. But no one escapes these visits.

As a child, my visits to the school dentist were compulsory as teachers made us form a long line and one by one we had to sit on that chair and have our teeth examined. Luckily for me, I never had to do anything more than just a check-up.

The visits to private dentists, whoever, meant bad news. I visited a few times to have my tooth pulled out. My only condition whenever I had to go was that I had to sit on Mom's lap while the dentist worked on me. My poor mom, who is also scared of going to the dentist herself, would agree. She had to sit in that chair and I would lay on top of her.

It's silly, come to think of it. It's not as if she could've cushioned any pain just by sitting in that chair. I had to endure it all myself; the injection, the plucking of the tooth...but her being there lent me some comfort as she would hold me tight in her arms and whisper assuring words that it'll be alright. I would whimper softly in response to her words.

Up until now, I still don't find it any easier to pay regular visits to the dentist even if it's just for scaling. And of course now, I can't possibly request for Mom to let me sit on her lap. So I have to be brave now and sit on that chair by myself.