No matter how well you take care of your teeth (or think you take care of them), there's always these niggling, irrational fears about seeing the dentist.
You have other things you'll want to do that won't get done because you're lying down at 80° from vertical for several hours because your teeth are sooooo unclean and it'll cost you a fortune. (Not so irrational, especially if you haven't been to the dentist in, um, three years...)
That you'll leave with your gums all bloody and swollen, but your teeth will look and feel great. (Again, maybe not so irrational. This is probably what happens to most people.)
He'll yell at you for not flossing and warn you sternly about gingivitis. (Well, I've never had a dentist yell at me, but I know you'll agree that the soft-voiced lecture you get makes you feel far, far worse.)
Then again, maybe he'll chuckle good-naturedly when I tell him I'm a popcorn flosser (i.e. I only floss after I eat popcorn) and say he'll pass that on to his colleagues because hey, that's funny. Popcorn flosser.
Maybe if I tell him I once had earrings made from the teeth I had pulled when I was 11 he'll forget to tell me about bone loss in my teeth and ignore the fact that he can slide the pick entirely between two of my teeth.
But at the end of it, I'll have ridiculously smooth teeth and I'll be running my tongue along them for days, until I have to go in for the "new patient exam." At least my teeth will be clean.
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