Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Dentist

I had the joy of going to the dentist today. Just a cleaning and some X-rays, no biggie. But, they had a new hygenist, so I had to explain to her that I wanted ABSOLUTELY no pain. She did really well, so I'm pretty happy about the whole thing, today at least. But getting to this point in my life has taken some serious work.

I hate the dentist. Well, to be clear, I hate going to the dentist. I had a terrible experience as a kid and then had braces put on my already straight teeth when I was in high school (supposedly to fix an overbite, whatever, I noticed no change). Then came the years between college and the job I have now (about 8 years) when I didn't have dental insurance, wasn't making much money (if any), and I was afraid of going to and paying the dentist. All of that combined gives me some justification for hating going to the dentist.

But, when I got to Peoria and got some decent dental insurance, I found a pretty good dentist. I like his hygenist and I think the dentist himself is a pretty decent guy. On my first visit, he and I came to an understanding. He walked into the exam room reading my file and said:

Dentist: So . . . I see here that you are a lawyer.

Me: Yes.

Dentist: I hate lawyers.

Me: That's okay . . . I hate dentists.

Dentist: So . . . we're good then?

Me: Yep.

I like honesty and up-front-ness. Hey, he can hate lawyers, but I bet at least one has saved his ass a couple of times. And, I can hate dentists, as long as he gives me lots of painkillers and makes my teeth look good. In my book, that's a good relationship.

2 comments:

Chef Kevin said...

Wow...that sorta sounds exactly like my dentist experience minus the hating lawyer\dentist part. My dentist retired, sold his biz to this very unfriendly, un-people person dentist who ragged on and on how bad my teeth were. Fast forward to 2006 with a new dentist and hygenist who are both really great people.

Except...."I'm going to numb this because it is probably going to hurt." No, hurt is sending a 10" Chefs knife half way through your thumb; that little scrapy thing ain't sh*t :)

Anonymous said...

My fear of the dentist isn't the pain or the money (okay, a little of each of those)... my overriding hatred is of the judgment of my teeth/gums, toothbrushing/flossing habits; I'd be fine if they would just shut up.