Dental depictions

Years ago, about twenty, we went on a trip to Morocco for the summer. During this trip we visited our family in various cities, including Casablanca and Marrakesh. To be honest, I don't remember the names of the other cities because I was too young to be aware of the fact that Morocco had more than three cities: it's all just deserts and beaches, right? One of the stops was a day at one of our family farms and I will always remember the cow I befriended that day. When it was time to go seven year old me refused to leave without the little cow. I had really bonded with this cute animal. My parents thought it was so endearing they even took a picture of me with it. I don't have the picture anymore, but I do remember it vividly: me petting the cow while looking in the camera teary-eyed. After my loving encounter I vowed to never eat meat again. 

"Portrait of Rosa Bonheur" (1857) by Édouard Louis Dubufe

So what did that mean to me as a kid? It meant not eating actual meat that looked like meat. So frikandellen, lunch meat and fish were still on the table as I did not consider them being meat. My parents did not mind me cutting meat out of my diet. My dad was even applauding me in doing so because that resulted in him having mine, but I did not eat any meat substitutes and that's simply because my parents didn't know about them and I didn't either. This led to growing me not getting enough phosphorus and that caused me to get pretty weak teeth (my parents' negligence was also a cause). I visit the dentist's pretty often but this year my visits have been more frequent than usually because they're renewing almost all of my fillings. Spending a lot of time there caused me to think of my first dentist, who had cared for my teeth the first 21 years of my life.

"In the waiting room, Paris" (1883) by Theodor Severin Kittelsen

In his waiting room my first dentist had stacks of Suske & Wiske comics, which I was a huge fan of at the time. He had a television in his actual office and it was always on Eurosport. For a short time I thought that he'd recorded all their shows on tape and that's the reason why it was always on the same channel. I just couldn't comprehend why someone would deliberately watch a biathlon. No shade to Eurosport because I was a big fan of their show Watts (don't tell them it was the only thing I watched on their channel). All of these things (comic books and a TV) made me think being a dentist must be so much fun so as a kid I'd declared that I'd like to become one myself. Of course, I didn't because the month after I'd decided that becoming a veterinarian was my real calling. 

"A toothdrawer concealing the dental key from the patient" (1856) by Luciano Nezzo

I must say that he sure set the bar when it comes to entertainment during the process. I have yet to find another dentist that has you watch Eurosport while they're poking around in your mouth. Someone that did come close was the dentist that worked on my fillings this month. Instead of asking me questions I couldn't possibly answer, because my mouth was covered by a rubber dam, he sang along to almost every song playing on the radio. Sometimes he would provide some commentary on what he was doing in my mouth at the time, but he'd interrupt himself abruptly to declare his love for a Grace Jones song that's playing at that moment. If the waiting area had some comic books I'd say he'd reached the bar. Unfortunately he does not have control over that because he isn't the mayor of Dentopolis (the clinic's name). In my heart of hearts I know that if he was there’d be stacks of Suske & Wiske in the waiting room. Or, at least, I'd like to believe that.

Thank you, and take care.