I’m not very cool so I don’t know if cool is the right word, but my dentist is cool to me. I don’t know how long he had to go to school to be a dentist, but he doesn’t look down on me like so many professionals do. He’s close to my age and considers me a peer. I like that.

We do the same things and have some of the same hobbies, so that’s cool too. He’s gotten me interested in reading some stuff that I never thought I’d like and we talk about it now every time I’m in. I even see him at a restaurant once in a while and he’s friendly and nice there.

So I’m basically a friend of my dentist. I never thought that would happen. For a while, I though he especially liked me, but I know a couple of his other patients and I just think he’s a nice guy. He seems to be.

He’s my only friend that I let prod on me and pick at my teeth, but other than that he’s just a regular friendly guy that I like being around.

My childhood dental health was all messed up by a bad dentist who really hurt my mouth. For 7 or 8 years after that, I wouldn’t go to a dentist of any kind. About eight years ago, I started to see some funny marks on my teeth and got a small chip on a front tooth in the bottom. So I had to go back to the dentist. I chose Dr V because of his reputation for gentleness, compassion and treating people like a whole person instead of just a mouth. When I got there, he talked to me like a real person, explained what I needed, gave me options and made me feel like he cared. I’ve been seeing him 8 years now and he has had to do a lot for me because I waited so long to come see him. I moved out of San Diego about four years, but I come back to the area every four or five months and see him during my visits if I need to. Let me tell you: I had to visit someone else in my new hometown of Las Vegas because it was an emergency, and I hated it. I let her do what I had to have done and never went again. I’m going to try to never go to anyone else but Dr V as long as he’s in business.

Why doesn’t someone do some marketing for dentists? Everyone thinks terrible things about them. When I say I’m going to the dentist, people saw awful things — but they just aren’t true about my dentist. They tell me I’ll be miserable for days, but I actually like going to see all the people. They’re very fun people.

When I was in college I didn’t go the dentist. Then there was a lot to be fixed after that. Then I got busy and stopped going again. Finally, I discovered the dentist was just about the only place that would let me lay down in the middle of the day and do nothing! So I started going to the dentist, found I needed a lot of work again and set about getting it done.

This dentist is very laid back, casual and it is sort of like going for a pedicure or manicure. You feel pampered when you leave instead of all beaten up. There might be some discomfort, but it’s worth it for a healthy and comfortable smile.

The dentist promises that he can show me how to keep my remaining teeth healthy and he said that I only have one or two other small problems that need fillings. So if I’m lucky, I won’t have to have another extraction. But if anything at all happens to my teeth, this is the dentist that will get to fix them.

I had known my old dentist all my life, but he died suddenly only like three weeks before I was supposed to go back for some work. The old dentist was very patient and kind. I ran all over that place when I was a kid and he didn’t care. He used to talk all the time and tell long, interesting stories. So I always liked going to the dentist. But I had heard most were more business-like. But I wanted to watch movies and read magazines in the lobby and stuff. My denist is really a lot like the guy I remember from a few years ago. He’s just nice. He’s kind and friendly, like the one I used to know. I used to like going to the dentist instead of going to school. Now I guess I can start going to the dentist instead of going to work.

My anticipation anxiety has been pretty bad recently, so I took a half-dose of my usual tranquilizer before my aunt drove me to my appointment with my dentist. And then I sat down. And the anxiety kicked in. I sort of laid down across the chairs in the waiting room before I was called back. My aunt said it was only about six minutes.

So I sat in the dental chair and told him which tooth was causing me problems. He actually listened to me and put me at ease. I’m not even sure the tranquiller was necessary, but I get so worried that things are going to go wrong everywhere I go.

He explained that I needed a filling and that he could do it right away. Once I agreed, he rubbed a painkiller on my gums, then I didn’t even feel the needle as it went it. I wish I hadn’t seen it either because needles make me feel weird, but I looked over at the wrong time.

Anyway, I felt a little twitch in my eye, but he and the nurse explained that this happens in a certain percentage of patients. Okay. No big deal. The nurse even said that I did really well with the injection. That made me feel kinda silly because I’m an adult and shouldn’t need to be told that, but I liked it. She was being maternal, I think.

I don’t really like drills. Needles are okay, I guess, but drills really bother me. But my dentist uses a special kind of drill that doesn’t make as much noise and doesn’t get as hot. That helped a little. All that really bothered me was spraying cold water on my teeth, but that’s because I’m hypersensitive to cold. I told them that and they changed the way they did things so I felt less of the cold water.

I had a little swelling in my jaw and my eyelid was a bit numb, but I sat in the waiting room for a little while and everything went back to normal or almost normal. My aunt took me home and I was fine within two or three hours.

I guess I’m a little more nervous than most, but even though I had the complication with the eye and the swelling, there was never any real pain or discomfort. I guess I’m a wimp and am complaining to much, but I want you to understand that I like my dentist and how nice he and everyone were to me.

When I need to go to the dentist again he’s the one I’ll go to. He’s a lot better than anyone else I’ve been to, and maybe I’ll get over some of my fears and issues before I have to go back.

I’ll probably still take the tranquilizer next time, but maybe I’ll only take a quarter of it. It depends on how I feel that day. The more I confront things that bother me, the better I feel. And my tooth hasn’t hurt at all after I had the deep filling. So I’m happy with this experience.

I know I’m an idiot, but I didn’t go see a dentist for a really long time. And I paid for that. I had to have an abscess treated at the emergency room late last year and had to stay in the hospital overnight. That cost more than anything I saved by not going to a dentist.

The ER people told me I needed a lot of dental work. It was a lot more than I thought it would be, but probably not as bad as it could have been. I need to have my wisdom teeth out too.

I found a great dental clinic. Even the first cleaning worried me because it had been so long, but I was completely relaxed within a few minutes. The hygenist was great and so was the dentist. They were both a lot more gentle than I expected. They went out of their way to be gentle. They asked me what I don’t like about dentists and I told them it was the fear of the unknown. I guess that’s right.

I started treatment last week and had four teeth restored. I had NO pain and just a very little bit of discomfort. I tried to fall asleep twice while they were working on me. They said that was OK if I wanted to. At least I got over being nervous. I like having a plan.

Everybody I know has a dental horror story, but none of them are Dr V’s patients. I sometimes wonder if the people who make it sound so bad even go to the dentist.

It’s not an ordeal or a problem in any way. I didn’t like the injection, but even that wasn’t as bad as when I was a kid. And within a day, the pain in the 4 teeth he worked on so long was all gone.

So I learned that dentists aren’t bad. I don’t want to ever spend a night in a hospital again, so I’m not going to mess up again. I’ve stopped telling my friends I’m getting my teeth fixed because I don’t want to hear their horror stories. They’re just not true for me.

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