Dental Ego

You know how some people are afraid of the dentist or otherwise really dread going there? I display quite the opposite sentiment. I mean, it's not that I actually like waking up early, biking 15 minutes in the cold and waiting for my turn, but a visit to the dentist is always a kind of weird ego boost for me. My dentist starts off by asking me whether I floss, at which I answer that since I still have braces residue in my mouth, I use toothpicks. "Very good," is what he says. After a quick scan (I'm always in and out of the dentist's office within 5 minutes, which is never enough time to read the gossip magazines in the waiting room that you would never buy yourself), he tells me, his assistant and everyone else who's listening that if all of his patients were like me he'd be out of work. He leaves me with a "Perfect!" for dessert. Not bad for an ordinary blah Tuesday morning.