The dentist office

I went to the dentist today. They cleaned my teeth and stressed me out.

I really don't see any reason for the office staff to wear these dental/ medical shirts/ smocks. That stresses me out. And they have these cute things on them like teddy bears and stuff. I wish they just wore normal office clothes. It's like every one of them is going to jump out from behind the counter and give me anesthetic or something. Oh this won't hurt,..See the teddy bear? And they come and go behind the counter, glance at you and then leave. Like look at that one... He looks like he could really have some bad teeth...

Now and then you can see the dentist going back and forth from one patient to the next in the hallway behind the desk. And you hear this beep that causes him to go back and forth. It's like EMERGENCY CHAIR 1, THE ANESTHETIC IS WEARING OFF! Beep! THE PULP CAP IS COMING OFF CHAIR 4! Beep!

Every time I hear the beep my mind races. I imagine all of the possible dental emergency situations. It's not a nice smooth "bing" It's more like "BZEEEP"! It's alarming.

I'm sitting there trying not to imagine what's going on back there. Trying to focus on the magazines despite hearing neumatic drilling sounds, and these must be magazines that the dentist subscribes to. Furniture like Donald Trump would own. Does the dentist have furniture like this in his mansion I wonder? Private Pilot,.. upgrade the avionics in your Cessna 150,.. National Review,.. Is my dentist a republican!..

Then they take me into the back. There's like an incoming door and an out going door. They don't want you to run into the people coming out, but people coming out still egress into the waiting room while you are sitting there so I don't see the point. You feel their pain. They ought to have them go out the back or something...

I go in the incoming door. It's the good door,.. the kinder gentler door. They sit me down in one of the stalls, I can hear what's going on in the next stall. "And how old are you?" "Eleven" the little girl says. "Well we have a cavity here and we're going to have to wiggle a couple of these loose ones out.",.. My gosh! I think. I hope that isn't the case with me!

I look around. Posters of rotten teeth,.. periodontal disease,.. A big plastic tooth that is split in half with cavities on it that you can see in cross-section,.. My attendant comes in and the first thing she does is take my blood pressure,... 700 over 500. Heart rate of 300,.. "I'm stressed out." I try to explain,.. She looks at me with suspicion.

Then she covers my body with a lead blanket and exposes my head/ brain to radiation,.. Not once, but 4 times!