The Thomas Crown Affair

I had the day off Thursday so that I could enjoy a leisurely dental appointment - one of my molars was cracked and I needed a crown to fix it. Yes, it's true, I enjoy going to the dentist. Ever since my friend, Mrs. T., introduced me to her dentist, Dr. Tom, I don't mind dental appointments at all. Dr. Tom and his office staff make my appointments fast, fun, painless and totally void of stress. And no, it's not just because of the laughing gas. Speaking of nitrous oxide...Dr. Tom's office has the scented kind: bubble gum, mint, vanilla, etc... When he asked what "flavor" I wanted, I decided that since it was 10:30 AM I'd ask if they had bloody Mary or mimosa scented. No such luck; I went with vanilla.

The first time I was ever knocked out for a dental procedure was when I had my four eye teeth removed before getting braces. After that I was also knocked out to have my wisdom teeth extracted. I didn't "need" to have my wisdom teeth out, they weren't bothering me or anything, but the Peace Corps required that they come out. Peace Corps you ask? I guess that's more blog fodder on which I'll need to work - or that I'll need to work on - if you don't mind me ending a sentence with a preposition?

Dr. Tom's office is cozy. They remodeled about a year ago and the space is comfortable, clean and inviting. The receptionist and accountant are extra sweet to me and always ask how Doc. B. is doing. They got to meet Doc. B. when we attended a holiday party at Dr. Tom's house a couple of years back. What fun and what a home he has. I'm thinking that the seven crowns he's done for me over the years have paid for part of his pool? Thank goodness for medical spending accounts.

My childhood memories of the dentist are all about the University of Michigan dental school. For what I'm guessing was a very cheap price, my parents were able to get all four of us kids in there to have our cleanings and fillings done. The catch was that it was a student who worked on your teeth so he/she had to have constant supervision with lots of checking, double checking, and triple checking to ensure the work was being done correctly. The best part was that a teeth cleaning meant at least a half day off school and a filling was for sure a full day off. I'm thinking my student dentist's name was Desa but I can't be sure. I never could understand her too well and I think she was from Egypt. She had me chew so many of those red tablets that I could have been the child lead in an Anne Rice novel. Especially since my fangs had not yet been removed. You know what I'm talking about with those red tablets, right? I think the technical term for them is "disclosing tablets" - the ones that tell you where you missed when you were brushing. In any case, the fillings I had done at U of M, so Dr. Tom has told me, fill virtually my entire tooth. So he can't replace fillings on me, he has to do crowns.

I have yet to experience my first root canal. He tells me they aren't as bad as everyone says they are - strangely, I believe him... Hopefully I won't be finding out anytime soon.