crowned

I sat in the dentist's office yesterday for 90 minutes getting prepared for a crowned tooth. It really wasn't bad; our dentist does a great job at numbing the area. The culprit was a worn out huge filling--probably from when I was a young teenager. It made me think of our old dentist, Dr. Matthews, with his small office and one chair. And the pristinely white porcelin bowl with endless rinsing water where we'd spit after swishing. I can still feel the coolness of that swirling water. I'm sure that filling was done with no Novicaine...it wasn't offered back then that I remember. Which is why today just the sound of a dentist drill still causes me to break out in a sweat.

But the nice thing I remember about Dr. Matthews was his old white metal cabinet with the windowed door. Inside were neatly laid instruments (I suppose that's what they were) but I remember best one shelf, lined with a mint green towel. There he had a row of neatly lined up, very shiny dimes. When we were done (as children) we could go inside the cabinet and pick one dime to take home with us.

Dr. Mur and I talked about how much you could do with a dime back then--the "penny candy" theme. He told me about the little paper cylinder of nuts he would buy for a few cents after school (if he walked and didn't use his money for the bus ride), and how inside the nuts a coin or two was hidden. Can you imagine that in today's protective world?

Photo: Youngest's practice teeth at dental school.