Open Wide.

When I was growing up and bit into something or used my teeth to open a package, my Mom would say, “That’s bad for your teeth.” I guess that and “you’re going to break your neck” were probably two of the comments I remember most about those formative years. Unfortunately her teeth comment stuck because it’s something I say to my kids when they use their teeth for multi-functional uses.

A few years ago over the holidays I was eating a Jordan Almond---the moment I bit into it I knew something was not right; I was correct as part of my tooth came out with the color-coated candy. I was not a happy camper. Why you might be asking? When I was 5 years old, and I know my brother and sister read Snap Shot, I had 6 cavities filled. What could be worse you might be thinking---it was my birthday. Yes, what a nice birthday present that was. (Oh, and our dentist didn’t believe in Novocain---something that still bothers me to this day.)

What I didn’t know, and only learned recently, was that my cousins went to the same dentist as our family. It shouldn’t have been a surprise as we were close, but I had no idea until a month ago. How did it come up? We were talking about things that terrified us when we were growing up and all 4 us said, “for me it was going to the dentist.”

I was in shock.

Now, a couple of things you don’t know about our dentist; although he was a nice man, he had really hairy hands and very bad breath. This was before the days of wearing anything on your hands or covering your mouth so you got it all--- and if that wasn’t bad enough, although certainly not his fault, he had only one leg and would hop around to go from one place to another in his office. If you are thinking that there is no way this could be true….it was!

When I moved to Chicago I think I went through 3 dentists before I went to one who was “on my side.” That was almost 30 years ago and I still go to his office today. Besides having an incredible view of Millennium Park he is a really good dentist! At one point I noticed on the card he brought in that it said, “nervous patient.” How embarrassing was that? In the end, the comment was scratched out, I don’t event think about going to the dentist any more---I just go and deal with it.

The photo above was taken at last year’s Ringling Bros. performance at the United Center. Besides being an incredible feat, this woman used her teeth at one point to hold on to the ring. Because it was so noisy at the stadium I was not able to tell her something very important----that’s bad for your teeth!

Thanks for stopping by.