Ed Healy

My four-year-old had a dentist appointment today. Overall, it was a good time. She and I walked the two miles to the office, singing silly songs the whole way. When we got there, she didn’t complain or shy away when the nurse came to get her—walking into the office with nary a glance back to see if I was coming.

During her cleaning, and the subsequent filling, I could hear her the whole time. She was giggling and laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world. And no, they didn’t give her the gas. In fact, they didn’t even use Novocain. She took it like a trooper.

However, the dentist called me in at one point and gave me a lecture that made me quite angry. She told me that Sonia was very talkative and wanted to see me. That was a lie; it was a pretext to get me in there so she could show off my daughter’s cavities while lecturing me.

She asked if I let Sonia drink chocolate milk, to which I replied, “Of course, I let her have some on occasion.”

“She says she gets chocolate milk every day.”

“She’s a four-year-old, with little grasp on the difference between one day, much less one week,” I said.

“You shouldn’t give her chocolate milk at all. It rots her teeth,” the dentist said. “And do you give her juice?”

“That I do—and regularly,” I said.

“Let her drink water.”

The dentist went on to list all sorts of evil foods and such that I should remove from my daughter’s diet. Raison? Fruit juice?

I wanted to scream. Give me a break. She has to eat and drink, and I’m not about to relegate her to a regimen of water and boiled veggies.

I get the feeling this lady didn’t have any kids. Regardless though, she’s let her focus on her profession blind her to the reality that the world does not revolve around perfect teeth. Some people enjoy eating raisons and drinking apple juice, for Christ’s sake.

And using my daughter as bait to lecture me and insinuate that I’m a liar? She doesn’t realize how close she came to getting throttled.

It was a good trip. 🙂