Behind That Smile

Lest anyone think that it’s all fun hanging out with Dad, consider today’s 6 hour dental marathon. It started with me pestering him a few months ago to get his teeth cleaned, realizing that he had other priorities over the past 2 years, such as dealing with relocation, depression and death. We had worked through the list of body parts needing repair, and now it was time to focus on oral hygiene. I found a great (and expensive) dentist who quickly moved beyond flossing to fillings. When he started digging around the cavities he decided there was so much decay that a root canal was needed. Off we went to a great (and expensive) endodontist across the street. I now realize what’s worse than getting a root canal (I’ve had a few). It’s listening to a root canal being performed on your 92-year old father. Sid did fine. I was a nervous wreck. Actually I was surprised he declined to watch the procedure on the camera screen; he used to enjoy watching my mother’s heart surgeries.

Dad got frozen yogurt as a reward for surviving the torture, and for dinner we had Jewish penicillin (chicken noodle soup). We reviewed all the discounts that were pursued, making the experience more worthwhile: senior discount, birthday discount, military discount, cash discount (since he doesn’t have dental insurance, which wouldn’t have helped much). He saved a few hundred dollars due to my creative negotiations. More important, he can keep doing what he does best: eating.