A good dentist is hard to find.

Always be a little kinder than necessary.
~James M. Barrie~

Recently, I had to make an unexpected trip to my dentist for a repair. A bridge had worked loose and threatened to pop out every time I ate.

Now, my dentist is not only a very nice man, but he's extremely good at what he does; very exacting, very precise, and well versed on state-of-the-art techniques. He doesn't take shortcuts for the sake of expediency for even the most minor procedure. He's also very solicitous about his patient's comfort.

Knowing all this, I still wasn't looking forward to this repair because I knew that rather than just reglue the silly thing, he would treat it as a brand new procedure, making sure he didn't overlook any damage or decay under the bridge that may have occurred over a period of time.

And so he did -- x-rays, exploration, poking here, there, and everywhere, a little numbing shot, a little reaming of the root canal under the bridge, a little cleaning, a lot of this, that and everything else. Finally, he finished and I had my bridge firmly reattached the way it should be, along with a drooping, drooling lip.

Oh, and the cost for all this?? Nada. Nothing. No charge.

I love my dentist.