Dentist

Let's get it out in the open right up front.

I fucking hate dentists. And I have an appointment in less than an hour.

When we were kids, we had an old dentist whose equipment was made in the mid to late 1800s. He was a sadist. He was 95 years old, couldn't see, and shook. Good qualities for a dentist.

He traumatized Betty and me so much that, as adults, we kind of... neglected to go to checkups.

Both of us were motivated to go back in the last few years by molars starting to break (some were nothing but filling; that old dentist was very liberal with the drill) and our dislike of pain. Broken molars hurt like a mofo. I ended up having two pulled because they came at a time that I simply couldn't afford to have root canals and crowns. By the time of the last incident two years ago, I had dental insurance (mostly worthless) and opted for a crown. No root canal. Yet.

So now my dental insurance (mostly worthless) will go up over 100% Oct. 1. The system has chosen the least expensive policy (mostly worthless) so we've decided to put away that money each month to use on dental bills. But till September 30, I still have insurance (mostly worthless) so Tom made an appointment for me to go in this morning. I won't make phone calls if I can avoid them and refused to go into the office to make the appointment myself.

Besides the sadist dentist we had as children, I dated a dentist who I'll call "Chip" (thinly-disguised) to protect him from angry patients who might read this. I've never met a man with more contempt for his patients. He bitched if they cancelled appointments because of illness, and he bitched if they didn't and came in and shared their germs.

It honestly makes me wary of all dentists.

So, I'm off to see the sadist wizard to see if he's any better than the others.

At least I still have dental insurance (mostly worthless).