Open Wide

Yesterday I took Eamon for his first pediatric dental appointment. It was all very pleasant, except for the actual exam and cleaning. The poor kid had visible plaque on his lower teeth, which was why I made the appointment in the first place, so I was sort of dreading the cleaning. They had me lie down on the chair, with him lying on top of me, on his back, with his head on my shoulder, so I could hold down his arms and basically keep him from fitfully throwing himself out of the chair and away from Dr. Kenney. It was about six minutes of him screaming and crying directly into my ear. I know there are far, far worse things a toddler could have to go through, medically speaking, but this wasn't fun.

Anyway, it was over soon enough and Dr. Kenney was very nice. There were some good toys in the waiting room and a big fish tank, so Eamon was entertained while we waited. One thing I noticed, however, was that we were the only patients in the office. (I reminded myself that Dr. Kenney is the only dentist in the practice and it was mid-morning, so most of his patients would likely be in school at that time of day.)

Having the whole waiting room to ourselves made me think of my last dentist, a very nice woman with a practice conveniently located near my old office in Skokie. She seemed fine, she took my insurance, but one thing always bothered me. I never, ever saw another patient go in or out of her office in the five years I went to her. It made me start to question whether she knew what she was doing. Her receptionist was ultra-thorough with follow-up calls, reminders to make my next appointment and confirming appointments multiple times. Towards the end, I sensed a note of desperation in her voice when she'd left a third message to say, "Just calling to see if you want to set up another visit!"

When I walked in for what became my last visit, I saw someone else, and it was not the FedEx guy. Finally! An older gentleman in casual but decent clothes, wrapping up his conversation with the receptionist as I was walking in. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, I'm not the only one letting this woman care for my teeth. I took off my coat and grabbed a magazine, and smiled at my fellow patient as he turned to walk out. Then I heard my dentist call from behind the desk.

"Bye, Uncle Frank!"

$#&%.