The Dentist

I'm not one of those who hesitates to go to the dentist. I saw how badly my parents' teeth had deteriorated by the time they were the age I am now, and I want to try to keep the same thing from happening to me.

Although I've had to go through crowns, a few root canals, a bridge and gum treatments over the years, the bottom line is, so far so good.

I know it's not fun, but it's not as bad as some people seem to think.

I do wish, though, they'd told me the same things when I was younger than I hear now.

The dentist I want to as a kid and teen never mentioned the word floss. The fillings I got back then were silver and, it turns out, deteriorated after a time.

There's clearly been much progress since those days, but unfortunately too late to keep people like me in their 50s from having to go through a lot of procedures to keep things OK.

But I'll keep going. Beats the heck out of dentures and toothless grins.

Later.