My dad, a dentist and me with a problem mouth??

One would think that there would be great benefit in an area in which one's parents prospered. Dad was a dentist, not a great manager of his money or time. He was a craftsman that took artistic pleasure in designing and repairing peoples mouths and their confidence. He was known as 'Painless Pat.' He would labor over peoples oral openings for hours going beyond what was necessary. The following he built up for his particular care is somewhat legendary. Oh, he did piss people off. Clients would often wait in his office for LONG periods of time waiting to get into the chair. I remember at time of almost two hours before my own dad had me come back to his chair for work. The amount of silver fillings that I had by the age of 16 was akin to one investing in precious metals. If anyone was a candidate for mercuric poisoning (if one buys such questionable science) it was me.

Upon my graduation from college, the birth of my first child and moving 200 miles to a new city all in the space of 3 weeks, I stopped seeing my dad for dental repair. I went to another man who had a speed shop set up that was an attempt to crank out dollars. I went 3-4 times but the experience was so weird that I stopped going. Plus, this dentist seemed to do all the work in 20 minutes and he didn't talk much or make you feel welcome. He certainly wasn't my father and didn't take the exquisite care that my father did with my mouth.

Today, the chickens came home to roost. This new dentist that saw me today was a modern version of my dad... deliberate, thorough and gentle... well his manner was but the news wasn't. I have 3 or 4 caps that have to be installed (cracked molars) several cracked fillings (damn, chewing on that hard ice did break things just like dad said it would); coupled with 2 wisdom (not) teeth that probably need to be pulled. I haven't flossed in years and I'm surprised that there isn't a whole boatload of periodontal disease present. Yikes! So dad, if you're listening, I'm sure that you are smiling just a bit to see what kind of position I've put myself in. Thinking through how bad things could have been though gives me reason to pause and think that all those amalgam fillings you put in my head were of such superior quality that they last over 40 years. Plus all that mercury in my mouth poisoned all the bacteria that would have otherwise devastated my gums if I'd gone to any other quack than my dad for dentistry. So all of you Mt. Sterlians that went to see Dr. Razor instead of my dad and who have to keep going back on a repeated basis for mouth work. Just think!!! If you'd gone to my dad, you could have had a span of 10 - 15 years in which you would not have darkened a dental office and still been OK!!!!

Take that, Omar Prewitt!!!