I’m writing this, literally, from the chair at the dentist’s office, where I just received six shots of novacaine as prep for treatment of an abscess. So?
Well, to make the needle feel less piquant, the usual procedure is to swab the gums with a numbing gel. As soon as the cotton swab got close, I detected the aroma of banana (ok, fake banana.) The taste was roughly akin to the same flavor of Laffy Taffy, which is to say absolutely FUNSGUSTING!
It turns out that the product comes in tons of flavors. My doc also has cherry and choco-mint.
The hygienist was kind enough to angle the exam light while I snapped this pic.
Here comes the boss. He’s totally baffled. As the procedure begins, he asks me if I believe in God.
No kidding.
Update: Made it home alive. Apparently, the dental world is lousy with flavored anesthetic gels. Dozens of brands, dozens of palate-pleasing varieties. I’m almost tempted to throw a party…the featured product of which would have to be the pina-colada flavored salve offered as part of the Harry J. Bosworth Company’s somehow-appropriately named “ComfortCaine” line of goods (the company also notes that the item is excellent as a gag-reflex suppressant. This is getting worse by the minute, so I’ll just stop.)
Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman 
