Dental adventures

Made it through the cleaning, with my beloved grading papers in the waiting room. Now I wait... and floss.

Now the cleaning

Remember to floss

She says

This will mean

No novocaine

No drilling.

The dentist says

I understand

You had some adventures

After the last visit.

We’ll see you in six months

Unless

Unless

We see you sooner.

I will floss.

I will floss.

Routines

We all have routines

Even the kitten

Has routines.

She does acrobatics

On the spinny desk chair,

Launches herself

To the coffee table,

Slides through the magazines.

She always gets the last lick

Of the yogurt container.

The older cat

Does not care

For yogurt.

He shares the end

Of the cereal bowl

With the kitten.

Soon they both

Will be sound asleep

After an extensive bath.

Soon

I will go to the dentist

For a teeth cleaning.

We all have routines.

Dentist

I have long suspected my nerves are differently ordered.  Here's proof.

This morning the dentist told me

I am part of the 30 per cent.

The nerve

Under my right lower wisdom tooth

Runs in a different channel

Than 70 per cent

Of the world.

I am home now

Numb jawed.

I sip coffee

From the left side

Of my face,

Hope it makes it

Down my throat.

Pretty good flosser

Home again with clean teeth.  As I sat in the chair, closed eyes, mouth open, I considered what possibilities the day contained.  I found out that I am a pretty good flosser, which, in the land of my birth, Minnesota, is as good as it gets.

In the dentist’s chair

All I have to do is

Close my eyes,

Open my mouth,

Hear how my flossing

Was

Pretty good

Over the last six months.

I consider

The world of teeth

For a brief time,

Return home with teeth

My tongue now finds

Smooth,

Plaque-less.

I return home

With the words

That I

Am a pretty good flosser.

Really I know

The tooth cleaner

Says that

To most everyone.