People hate dentists. They hate their teeth being picked, prodded, polished, drilled and pounded. In fact, most of the fear is from the daunting sound of the drill. Once you get past that, everything else is a piece of cake. I have a nickname for all dentists; ‘toothpicks.’ I have always had excellent oral health -- had my first cavity at age 20. Even the dentist was shocked that he would be my first.
A couple of months ago, I got an ad in one of those coupon mailers. A new dentist was in town and had a “special” for new patients. Cleaning and X-rays were only $30.00. A bargain in dental speak. I hadn’t been to the dentist in a couple of years, so I made an appointment.
The office was very upscale with lots of fancy leather chairs. Expensive. The walls were what is call “designer colors.” Soft pastels. Tasteful artwork. Smooth jazz piping through. Bonsai plants on glass tables. I looked around and saw several people sitting in those fancy leather chairs, all holding the coupon that I had in my purse. I guess everyone took the bait. Set a sprat to catch a mackerel. Not a bad catch either. I got the last seat available. Who were the sprats and who were the mackerels?
Fifteen minutes later, a man comes running in -- literally. Must have been running late. He was in sweats with perspiration marks under his arms. “Great,” I thought. Another patient who thankfully couldn’t sit next to me. I have an aversion to other peoples sweat getting on me. He pulls headphones from his ears, stops his iPod and goes to the receptionist.
She hands him a pile of messages and tells him that rooms 4, 5 and 6 are ready to see him. What? That’s the doctor. No way. Him? Mr. Running Man? Doctor? He was actually kind of cute. Black hair, tall, clean cut. And oh those rock hard abs. Sweaty. Okay, forget what I said about sweat, I would have to make an exception this once. Wait a minute. I came here to get my teeth checked -- nothing else!
Dr. Hunk disappeared into a back room. One by one the patients began to disappear into the back rooms. An hour later, they called me. The exam room was very cool. Flat screen T.V. on the wall with a theatrical sound system. The booming subwoofer was causing the bobblehead effect.
They took X-rays and minutes later, Dr. Hunk appeared. All cleaned up, I am happy to say. He actually smelled good. He looked at me with lust in his eyes. “Are you in any pain,” he said as he leaned into my mouth. “No,” I said.
He picked and prodded and said, “You need to replace your fillings. They should be replaced every ten years. I can give you a crown on one tooth that has a big filling and you won’t ever need to fill that tooth again.”
He wanted $5,000 to replace fillings and to crown me. He did a bit of fast talking that left me with my mouth open. It didn’t sound right to me, so I said that I would think about it ( a euphemism for, you won’t see me again.) He tried to get me to commit right there. (Another turn off) I bowed out gracefully and told him that I preferred to think about it. “Don’t think too long, you don’t want your teeth to fall out,” he sarcastically shouted over the music, obviously unhappy that I was leaving.
The next week I went to another dentist and told him the story. He was shocked. “Unfortunately, there’s one bad apple in every profession,” he states. Then he says, “Do you believe in God?” I say, “Yes. He says, “Good because God just saved you $5,000. You don’t need anything that he told you. He was just trying to take bite out out your wallet.”
Dr. Hunk was young and fresh out of college. He probably had a load of student loans to pay. That’s why his prices were so inflated. Dental school is in the $100,000 range and could be much more depending on the school, but that is still no excuse to extort patients and coerce them into procedures they don’t need.
My new dentist, Dr. Sensible gave me something to smile about. I am grateful for that experience. It saved me time and money. I wasn’t a sprat or a mackerel, I was the one that got away. If you are open to the flow of life, you will always be in flow.
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