The Dentist

I went for the first time ever.

Aside from the well-known expense, it was actually pretty awesome. Aside from the ridiculously unnecessary test for inflamed gums, it didn't hurt at all. (I could have told them my gums were inflamed, and how, and why, and what to do about it.)

Also, my teeth had so much calculus that now they're clean, they're a noticeably different shape.

The experience jibed well with my experience with free healthcare...I really do feel happier when I pay someone for their services. (Unless we're friends...but then I still pay them back, but informally. That's what friends are like.)

Despite brushing intermittently, once a day at most, never flossing, and having never been to a dentist, the only teeth with problems are my wisdom teeth, and there's two good reasons. First, they are defective. They didn't finish growing. Second, after I got them, I forgot they existed and didn't brush them for like a year. Oddly, I do have decay on one of them.

Dentists are, like most scientists, horrible philosophers that aren't aware of the deficiency. Yes, the deficiency is relevant to their job.

Update:

Yes, they didn't ask what I wanted for my teeth at all. Essentially, the dentist assumed that they were the owner of my teeth, and got to decide what happened to them, not me. The fact that I own my body doesn't seem to really impinge on their consciousness.

I guess it's just easier to treat your patients like action-reaction machines.