Chatter Boxes

I love going to the dentist. I had my six month cleaning yesterday afternoon. I've been looking forward to it for weeks. I love that clean slippery feeling after they scrape and polish my teeth.

I particularly like my dentist. He's the only one I remember going to. His office was in our neighborhood...we could walk if we wanted to. My elementary school is right across the railroad tracks.

We've long since moved but I have been loyal to my dentist. He remembers who I am, where I work, where I went to college. He scolds me repeatedly for brushing my teeth too much. We've negotiated and I'm allowed to brush three times a day but only if I use the proper "frequent brushing technique".

I see the same dental hygienist every time and I thought yesterday, she has the perfect job! Not because she gets to clean mouths all day (yuck!) but because she likes to talk. A lot! What better job for someone who likes to talk a lot than a job where you can stifle the other person's response?

Here's a brief rundown of topics during my 30 minute appointment.

* Her parent's divorced two weeks after their 25th wedding anniversary.
* They each have new boy/girlfriends one of whom smokes a pipe (I don't remember which one).
* She likes her father's girlfriend better than her mother's boyfriend. But she invited all four of them for Christmas last year and they came because "they're all adults afterall."
* They're going to St. Louis for the 4th of July because they've never seen the arch.
* She is more afraid of traveling in a car over a bridge than she is flying in an airplane over the ocean.
* Her husband had temporary paralysis after getting a typhoid shot in his arm.
* Her sister doesn't like being on birth control.
* She grinds her teeth at night too.
* Her favorite color is blue.
* The four year old patient she had earlier in the day would do much better if his mother didn't try to "calm him down".

It was also perfect for me because she didn't expect a response...in fact, she'd rather not have one. So she got to talk for 30 minutes straight. And I got to prop my feet up, watch HGTV where a couple tore down and rebuilt their fireplace, and walk out with sparkling white teeth.

Everybody wins!