Back to the Mundane

It is ok for you to uncover your eyes now, unless the dentist makes you squeemish. I would like to recount my dental experience from yesterday for you all now. It was bizarre.

Usually, the dentist doesn't ask you many questions. That's the hygenist's job, and she asked me plenty of questions last Friday like "How's your novel coming along?" "What should I write my novel about?" Please, lady, it's hard enough for me to focus on writing without a bunch of plaque catapulting off my teeth from the end of your scrapey tool. But by the end of the cleaning she had the most brilliant, un-thought-of idea for a book ever. She said, "Maybe I'll write a novel about a dentist who falls in love with the hygenist, and they can make steamy eye contact over their patients." Right.

Now to my dentist. We see a Korean dentist because it's David's way of giving back to his culture. I go along with it, because Asians are smart people, and I can support David in this way. Our dentist has a thick accent, and luckily I have practice with David's parents so I can understand him. But now I'm not so sure my listening skills are so good. These are the four things my dentist said to me yesterday:


This job is better for a man, not a woman. There's too much physical exertion involved.

One of my patients made me very happy this morning. I did surgery on his gums a few days ago. I told him I would use a new proceedure and it wouldn't hurt at all. This morning he came in and he said "You were right. I went home, and it didn't hurt at all."

If life has a speed limit, I'm going about 40 miles an hour.

I feel like it's the 4th of July!

And all this while he was drilling into my tooth, without numbing my gum (my decision, but it was a tad painful). At least my dentist feels comfortable enough to say what's on his mind. Maybe he thinks of it as therapy. After all, aren't dentists supposed to have the highest suicide rate out of any profession?