I horrified a dentist and his English teacher today.

For the next four Saturday mornings, I’m taking over lessons for an acquaintance who’s going on a couple work-related trips. His student is a dentist whose goal is to start giving presentations in dentist conferences around the world.

Both the dentist and my acquaintance commented that my teeth looked very straight–which means they both need new glasses/contacts. They speculated that my straight teeth must be the result of frequent trips to the dentist.

The dentist asked me when the last time I’d been to the dentist was. I thought a bit, did some algebra and said “Around 1998.”

They both freaked out, then assumed I was joking, then freaked out again when I assured them that, no, I hadn’t been to the dentist in a millennium, er, in THIS millennium.

Because they were horrified to the point of being speechless, neither pursued my reasons for not going. The teacher, instead, encouraged me to get a check up and cleaning from the dentist/student because it was cheap.

I would have pointed out that it wasn’t a matter of money. It’s also not a matter of fear of dentists. (Remember, I’ve had needles stuck in my eye; I’m not that worried about my teeth.) My father hated dentists and his dream was to find a dental team that would knock him out and fix everything wrong with his teeth in one epic visit.

In my case it’s a more a matter of laziness. The last time I went was because I’d lost part of a filling and I wasn’t that impressed with the work done by the dentist. This hasn’t inspired me to rush off to the dentist. Also, having seen the dental troubles my father had at a young age and work he had to sit through, I’ve managed to take much better care of my teeth. I’ve also heard that dentists in Japan will sometimes clean a few teeth, then schedule another appointment to clean a few more before schedule a third appointment to clean a few more because national health insurance.

Now that I know an English speaking dentist, I may have to overcome my laziness and get my check up for this millennium.