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.

Oops!

*sigh* I sure spend more than my fair share of time in one of those chairs over there on the left.

So I'm minding my own business last night, going about my regular before-bed routine... a puff of Advair, rinse my mouth, brush my teeth, mouthwash... wait, wait - back up. Back to that "brush my teeth" part. Like I said, minding my own business, brushing my teeth, and... hello! out pops one!! Erg! That'll stop you dead in your tracks every time, yes?

Luckily, it was a crown and not a real tooth, but still, disconcerting nonetheless.

My dentist' office loves me.