Sweet Tooth

So I had my regular 6 month teeth cleaning this week.

All was going as normal.

I'm not a fan of teeth cleanings.

Since my teeth hurt more from the scraping

than if they were just pulled out.

But I love the slippery smooth clean teeth afterwards.

So I'm religious about my cleaning appointments.

So I spent the hour having the dental assistant

do her usual talking my ear off

and expecting me to reply while my jaw

is locked open and saliva is creating a lake inside my mouth.

Following protocol,

I nod and make gurgling groaning noises to her stories
while pretending to be interested.

The final part of the appointment

is when the Dentist shows his pearly whites for 2 minutes

to review my teeth and tell me they look perfect.

Well this time he was abnormally chatty

while he was reviewing my charts and new x-rays.

Then he chuckled a bit to himself.

I  tried to smile without breaking my dry cracked lips

and asked what was so amusing.

He replies,

"Are you a sweet tooth?"

I had the deer in the headlights response.

"Uhhhhh ME?!  No way!  Well, maybe a little.  OK who told you!?!"

He glances back at me,

"Your X-Rays did. You have a tiny little cavity starting between your upper morals."

My jaw dropped.

"WHAT?!  I have a cavity?!  That's impossible! I'm an adult! I brush religiously!"

Then he chuckles a bit more,

"Well we commonly refer to these as the No Flossing Cavities."

Again I go into defense mode.

"No way, I floss all the time! Like 3 times a day!"

"Ok umm maybe like 3 times a week."

Then I stall a bit...and hang my head in shame.

"Or maybe just out of necessity when food is stuck in my teeth."

He gave me a sympathetic look.

And we discussed my sweet tooth habits combined with flossing habits.

While all the staff chimed in too.

Apparently I'm the worst offender.

Gummy sugary candies

that I nibble on all throughout the day.

He told me it would be better to eat a bag of chocolate in one sitting once a day.

Rather than have sugar in my mouth all day.

I did the only thing I could to salvage my pride.

"Well hey at least my teeth are white!"

I didn't win any votes.

So they scheduled my appointment to get it fixed.

And handed me my "treat bag".

Which I realized later they were overly generous

and gave me 3 tubes of floss.

Thanks.

So as I was leaving,

the front reception (who was NO where near the discussion) whispers to me,

"Well at least you're lucky. 

The rest of us can't eat a lot of candy due to calories.

Not cavities."

I smiled.

Suddenly the clouds parted and a ray of positive sunshine filtered through.

And glimmered off my new cavity.