An ode to my dentist.
Dr. Taira is a master.
He tantalises teeth, caresses crowns, and finesses fillings.
I first went to him about fifteen years ago. At that time, I was teaching a private English lesson to a student who happened to be a dentist. The guy was well-off, he had a chain of clinics and a fancy car collection.
However, he had never wanted to be a dentist, he wanted to study architecture - but his father was a dentist…
And so it was that thirty years later that he had ticked all the external marker boxes of success, but probably very few of the internal ones. Needless to say, he wasn’t the world’s happiest dentist…
He invited me to have a free check-up and clean, which was good timing as I felt I had a problem with a tooth on the left of my mouth. The guy did the check and some cleaning, after which I asked him about the tooth I was concerned about. He said it was fine, but there was a tooth on the other side of my mouth that needed work. I was skeptical and decided to get a second opinion.
And so it was that two after that I found myself at Dr. Taira’s clinic. The contrast between the two and like night and day, or ceramic and amalgam - to use dental terminology. Whereas the previous guy spent more time pondering bridges over river rather than those in mouths, Dr. Taira was clearly a man who very much enjoyed life and his work - and was exceedingly good at it. I got my second opinion, and it turned out that I was right about the tooth on the left afterall, and so I promptly had it fixed.
Since then I’ve been returning there for check-ups and occasional work ever since. I even started on the process of having my own amalgam fillings removed and replaced with ceramics. It was during one such sessi0n that I actually fell asleep will waiting in the chair. Did I mention that Dr. Taira usually has smooth jazz playing? Well maybe it was smoother than usual that way, but regardless of the music I regarded as a sign of someone who was very good at making their patients feel relaxed.
In the reception area there is a small picture of Rolling Stone Keith Richards. I haven’t been able to track down the exact picture, but this one is close enough.
Along with the picture is the following printed out on a card:
Keith Richards has an almost Buddhist detachment to the Legend he helped to create. But he is not, he would like you to know, an idiot. He was here.
So if Dr. Taira is good enough for Keith Richards, he’s good enough for just about anyone.
One of these days I’ll get around to asking Dr. Taira about Keith Richards.