I can remember an experience from my youth: Actually, until then I thought I had halfway reasonable teeth, and I also amused at others who had bad teeth.
One day - I hadn't been to a checkup in a while - my mother had made an appointment for me with a new dentist.
Four(!) cavities were promptly found, two of which were drilled immediately. This was also the very first treatment where I got a shot for drilling. I also ridiculed my friend earlier, who had told me that he always gets a shot for drilling. 'He must rarely go to the dentist, so he must have had big cavities. Or he is simply a sissy' I thought.
However, the new dentist was not squeamish. The drilling was hardly endurable. And when he asked me in the meantime if I wouldn't rather have an anesthetic, I reluctantly but gratefully agreed. It would have been unbearable otherwise.
I didn't felt exactly as a hero that day ;-)
To cut a long story short: my arrogance and my self-perception was over.
A year or two later, I was back in the dreaded chair. This time, I was no longer as confident as the time before.
But when my dentist told me after the check-up that I had three more cavities, I was totally shocked.
As was usual in the practice at that time, the treatment was performed immediately in the same appointment. The chair moved further back and a moment later the drill whistled.
As I lay there helplessly, hoping that it would be over quickly, a young, quite cute trainee - hardly older than me - came into the treatment room. I only saw her in the corner of my eye as she stopped to watch me and glanced curiously into my mouth.
Of course, at this point I was anything but proud of my many silver fillings and hugely embarrassed that any further cavities had to be drilled today.
I would have loved to have turned away. However, there was nothing I could do, reclined far back in the dental chair, legs high in the air, mouth wide open and various instruments my mouth. She watched me for a while in my precarious position.
It was embarrissing but also somehow fascinating in the retrospective. However, that day I was particular happy when I was able to leave the office.