| The
Dentist
There used to be a local tooth doctor
in our village that everyone with tooth problems would visit. Then one
fine day, the fellow took a dentistry course and suddenly there was a
sign on his front door that read “dentist”.
Here once again, we have the same
situation of an age-old “hand”- craft being lost to posterity.
Nowadays, everyone is some kind of dental “specialist” whether that
be a dental surgeon, a periodentist, an orthodentist, or what have you.
But when you think about it, people’s teeth haven’t really changed
one bit: there are still incisors, canine teeth, molars 32 teeth in all
(assuming of course, you have a complete set). But oh how dramatically
the dentist’s bills have changed!
The old “tooth doctor” was a whole
lot cheaper. And you didn’t have these strange, futuristic looking
chairs and high-speed turbo- drills and all kinds of other “newfangled
nonsense”. No, in the old days, you just sat down in an ordinary
dentist chair and kept your fingers crossed while you held on for dear
life to the arm rest. Yes, the fear of the “dreaded drill” is the
one thing that is still the same today as it was back in the old
days.
Our local dentist always give us a
toothbrush. Good dental hygiene is still better than the best repair
work. Yes, and when you get older, oh miracle of miracles! — You get
another set of teeth — the wisdom teeth! |
