My Dentist is Better Than Your Dentist!

One of the best things I like about being a dentist is catching up with my patients.  Most of them have been coming to see me for over 10 years.  I get to meet their friends, co-workers and family.  We chat about upcoming vacations, road trips, graduations, new motherhood, dads teaching their kids to ride a bike and grandchildren.  We love laughing at fun moments of our lives as we grow older together.

This most recent article I wrote for one of the Japanese newspapers highlights one of those particular fun moments I had with one of my patients.  Read and enjoy!

My Dentist Is Better Than Yours!

Today I saw Mr P today; he was one of my first patients when I started as a dentist. He asked how my kids were.  This patient had known me before I was a Mom.  He was surprised to hear that my kids are now 16 and 17 years old. Wow!  It really puts things in perspective of how long I’ve been a dentist.  He laughed and told me I still look the same.  I laughed also and told him likewise. We both know that we’re lying to each other!  20 years is 2 decades!  Gray hairs, wrinkles, it’s all OK and part of living a long happy life!

We both remembered that when I was initially working at an office on the west side, he had been coming as a patient for a few years when I asked him if his new wife wanted to be a patient at my office as well.  He said he had asked her but she didn’t want to leave her dentist.  “No, I would never leave my dentist.  My dentist is better than yours! She’s the BEST!”, his wife said.  “Oh no!”, my patient replied, “MY dentist is SO much better than YOURS! She’s the VERY best!  I’m NEVER leaving my dentist!” The newlyweds argued back and forth and finally agreed not to change dental office but to stay with their own “very best” dentist.

It wasn’t until a few years later when I changed offices and am now working with Dr F that we realized a very funny coincidence!  When I left the west side office, a lot of my patients had followed me to this new office and one of those was Mr P.  After his first appointment at this new office, he went home and together with his wife, realized that now both their “very best” dentists are together in the same office!  I told Dr F the coincidence and she said it made sense. She had also asked Mrs P if she would like to introduce her husband to the office and she said he had refused saying that he would NEVER leave his dentist for another one.  That was 8 years ago and now, Mr P, Mrs P and their 6-year-old daughter, Miss P, are all patients here and they tell everyone they come to the VERY BEST dental office!