LMNOP

In order to properly celebrate National Dentists' Day, we here at LMNOP dreamed of having a correspondent take an actual trip to an actual dentist and recount it for us.  We knew that it was out there, though, to try and find someone who actually had a dentist appointment on March 6.  I mean, you can't just order an eclipse of the moon, or turn on your TV and expect an America's Next Top Model marathon to happen, so why would you be able to arrange a similarly cosmically significant confluence of circumstance and fate?  But somehow, we made it happen.  That's right--today's contribution comes from Gregory Oshel, who had an actual, real-life dentist appointment today.  Now that's exclusive.

"I would say that I have a decent amount of experience with dentists; I believe I’ve gone to four different ones.  They ranged from a dentist with a chic Farragut Square office to one who I believe was just out of school.  In addition, I’ve had braces and gotten my wisdom teeth removed.  Therefore, it was quite a surprise when I discovered that my latest appointment was on Dentist Day, a holiday I was completely unaware of.

My current dentist does not have any fancy equipment or gimmicks (one of the great pleasures of living in the Philadelphia area is seeing infomercials for Doc Bresler’s Cavity Busters: see http://www.cavitybusters.com/ and http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0798/naomi1.html) but his office is less than five minutes from my home.  It’s a small practice, run out of a converted house with one dental chair and a receptionist.  The service was good; the receptionist greeted me by name when I walked in the door.  After filling out the necessary forms I settled down to read the December 2005 issue of National Geographic.  I had barely gotten into the magazine when my name was called.

My appointment was just for a routine cleaning and fortunately it went fairly quickly.  There was a little small talk and then things got down to business.  Sadly, Dentist Day wasn’t mentioned and there were no special decorations in the office.  Even worse, I did not receive a free toothbrush!  I used to count on a new toothbrush after each dental visit; at home I am still using one from my previous dentist.

Overall, it was a successful visit; the dentist cleaned my teeth and delivered the usual speech about needing to floss more.  In honor of Dentist Day, I salute all the quiet, hardworking dentists like mine."

Be sure to come back later tonight, when we continue our celebration of March 6 with a tribute to frozen foods.