I realize this sounds like an oxymoron, but I actually had an enjoyable dentist
visit today. First of all, I didn't have to wait long, but, since I'd been a bad
girl and bought a used copy of Barbara Pym's Civil to Strangers and other
Stories for $4 (after spending money on beading supplies yet again), the
wait was pleasant. I only had to get examined, not cleaned or drilled or filled or
capped today.
First, the tech took X-rays with a very futuristic
machine that held my head still and moved around it. After I commented that it
seemed more like something that would be scanning my gene pattern before
transporting me to the bridge of the Enterprise, we talked about the different
Star Trek shows. She had a lot more warm personality than the usual dental
hygienist is willing to show to yet another open-jawed drooling patient. Next, the
dentist showed up. Like the tech, she was a medium-young black woman -- old enough
to seem experienced, young enough to be cool. She examined my teeth and X-rays
fairly quickly, and the three of us spent longer talking about the telethon the
other night, and the indistinguishable women singers on it. I used the term
"divas" to refer to them, for lack of a better description. The dentist had firm
opinions that people like Celine Dion and Mariah Carey had not earned that label
yet: "You've got to have twenty years of attitude first."
The whole
thing was over sooner than I thought possible, and then it turned out that thanks
to my new insurance (I switched to Rudder's when my own ended) there was nothing
at all to pay. So to recap: short wait with a good book, cool high-tech machines,
no pain, good conversation, no discomfort, no fee. Definitely a success.