On a cold morning in February 2011 I sat shivering on the 23rd floor of the Muni Tower in Downtown Seattle. Gateway Dental in Seattle had done everything possible to make patients comfortable. I reclined in a dental chair, that if memory serves, was upholstered in deep purple leather. The chair faced a wall of pane glass. I took in views of the surrounding architecture and the lake beyond, including snippets of pink and orange from the fading sunrise reflecting off the surface of the lake. As the hygienist, Lolita, took x-rays of my mouth the catchy, piped-in music was a pleasant distraction from sharp-edged rectangles of film and the intrusive plastic ring that held them there between my molars.
It was Monday and the weekend had been cold - 25 degrees at night, 37 degrees average for the day. One of the Gateway staff – a woman who helps clients navigate insurance when they have it and figure out how to pay for things when they don’t - mentioned that heat in the building had been turned off since Friday at closing. That morning, the building - still in the process of warming up – was chilly. However, cold wasn’t the only reason I shivered. Fear also had me quaking. You see, I had not been to the dentist in 8 or so years. I know I am not supposed to admit this, but it is the truth.
Why? Why did I stop seeing the dentist. Truthfully, because my teeth had begun falling out of my mouth.
(for more, see next post)
