Dentist and hubris

Today I went to the dentist. Somewhat to my surprise, after all these years, he asked where I worked. What’s up with that? It’s been a decade, if not two. Perhaps he had been reading my journal here and could no longer control his curiosity. Probably not though, since he first asked whether I was employed, before he asked where. It has nothing to do with employers’ dental plans, because we don’t have them in Norway. (Possible exception for boxing and similar sports where teeth are likely to fly. American-style football also comes to mind. Anyway, it is not normal. We don’t have public dental coverage either – each of us pays for ourself.)

The pay was fairly moderate this time, because there were zero holes again. I felt pretty good about this, although a bit surprised. I live mostly on carbs, after all, since I can’t eat more than small amounts of fat without getting ill, and really hate eating meat and fish. Not so much for religious or ethical reasons, although those don’t help exactly. It is just icky. That leaves carbs of various kinds, neither of which are known to be loved by teeth. (Except the indigestible sugar xylitol, which is known to protect teeth but can upset digestion in larger doses. I don’t eat much of the stuff.)

I felt pretty proud of my achievement even so, and as I posted on Google+, decided to celebrate with Pepsi and chocolate.

The soda tasted disgusting. That is not a property of Pepsi generally, but this particular bottle was not their best, it was one of the worst I have ever tasted from that brand. And then I broke my tooth on the chocolate bar.

OK, not really, it was already broken, it is the usual one which breaks every few months (or roughly as often as I buy some new gadget, which led me to the conclusion that “every time I buy a laptop, God breaks one of my teeth”. This one would be the retribution for the Samsung Galaxy Tab, although I am not sure whether it actually broke before or after… but in any case, it came out now. On the bright side, I didn’t swallow it. It has a longish metal pin on the root side, so that would have been very risky.

So, it seems I will be back sooner than expected, and pay more than expected. The chocolate was good, though. I stopped halfway through so as to not get sick (there is fat in chocolate), but it was quite tasty. My hubris, not so much, I guess.

2 thoughts on “Dentist and hubris

  1. I am sorry to hear of your dental incident, but . . . I just wrote on the google plus page, wondering whether there was a word for hubris relating to dentists instead of gods! And . . . there is your title, “Dentists and hubris”!

    That is funny.

    And “hubris” is not a word I use every day, but . . . it fit!

    I’m so sorry, but I am just laughing about the whole thing, and that is not showing much empathy! But . . . you celebrated a good dental report with chocolate and . . . broke your tooth on it! Oh my gosh!

    I hope it doesn’t hurt. I am sorry it happened. And I still think it is funny, in a broad sense. If it hadn’t been YOU it happened to, if it had happened to a real jerk, I would not even feel too bad about giggling over it! It’s like something out of a comedy, you have to admit!

    • I found the episode quite amusing myself! I had hoped that came through in my writing, but I do tend to have a dry, deadpan sort of humor that does not always convey well in writing.

      I think anyone who celebrates their dentist visit with cola and chocolate are high enough in their own eyes do deserve a little stumble. ^_^ I certainly don’t mind.

      No idea what happened to the Pepsi – this bottle tasted like it was made with stagnant pond water. Meh.

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