My Enemy, The Dentist (John Whittier, 1956)

My Enemy, The Dentist
John Whittier, 1956

It isn't unusual for people to dislike going to the dentist.

The waiting in the outer office is really terrible when you try not to listen, but can't help hearing the cry of pain from the person before you. You feel like getting up and leaving, but you try to let everyone else think you're not the least bit afraid.

Everytime I am in the dentist's chair, I get the feeling that the dentist isn't telling me all the things I should know, and the words he uses to tell the nurse what has to be done are like those of a foreign language.

How I dread it when the dentist starts to go to work! Try to imagine the buzzing sound of a drill as it digs into a decayed tooth or the cracking of a tooth that was too far gone and had to be extracted; it hurts just to think of it.

I am sure you have all gone through the part when the dentist asks, "Does it hurt?" and you have so many instruments and so much cotton in your mouth that you couldn't answer him even if you wanted to.

I never take my eyes off the dentist from the time I enter up to the time I leave.

If you really stop and think for a miute, you will find out that the dentist isn't an enemy but a good friend. Think of the hours that you have suffered with a toothache. If you see the dentist, it may hurt for a few minutes, but then the pain is all over. I used to think it wasn't right to pay so much money for so much pain. Now I realize that it was worth every cent to get rid of those nights that were spent in never-ending torture with a toothache.