Just returned from a dentist appointment.  Mid way through the procedure, with my mouth filled to capacity with bolts, clamps, impression paste and assorted paraphernalia, my chronic cough kicked into hyper drive!  I proceeded to quake, expectorate and convulse, until the whole scene was reminiscent of the last days of Vesuvius. The doctor indicated this was the first time he’d actually entertained the possibility of losing a patient during a procedure.  I suggested I’d never expired from such a procedure before, and it seemed unlikely I would do so more than once.  The technician admitted to being most horrified at the prospect of my inadvertently swallowing the entire apparatus, clamps, paste, paraphernalia, and all!  While this prospect is indeed horrifying, truth be told, it’s not swallowing the thing that causes me the most trepidation, but the prospect of passing it, in its entirety, later. STC