23 October 2019

I am rarely surprised when I go to Cindy's office.  My hygienist for years has  been Kristina and while waiting for me to be called, I was surprised that there didn't seem to be anybody in her space.

Pretty soon someone I didn't know at all came to call me for my appointment.  I figured she was one of the assistants who was going to get me ready for Kristina, but she took me to a different space to sit me down.

"Where's Kristina?" I asked.

"She's still on maternity leave," she answered.

Maternity leave????  My last appointment was 4 months ago, apparently 2 months before her due date and I never noticed that she was pregnant!

I never did understand the name of the woman who worked on my teeth today -- either because of my hearing or her accent, or a combination of both.  But I'm so used to how Kristina works on my mouth that it was kind of strange to have this new person.  She cleaned them just fine, but her procedure was completely different.  I could always tell where Kristina was in the process so I could gauge how close she was to finishing but I didn't have a clue where this woman was until she told me she was about to put silver nitrate on my gums, so I knew I was just about finished.

People who are afraid of dentists have a difficult time believing me, but the whole exam at Cindy's is so painless that I often doze off during a cleaning.  Not a deep sleep, but enough that I am have peripheral dreams and am surprised when I "wake up."

Cindy came at the conclusion of the cleaning to have a final look and said that all looked fine, which means that I won't get a visit with her, when I come back for more work.  Good that I don't need extra work, bad that I miss our visit.