Turkish Dentist.

My mother has always obsessed about our teeth.  She is forever telling me to brush my teeth in the back of my mind, and so I cringe when I tell it to my children.  I'm sure it started as a gentle reminder, but times five children and x many years later it's like hitting an automated response button on her.  Even now, if I imply anything about teeth brushing relating to myself or my children, she will say: Make sure you brush those teeth well!  Or They gotta be brushing those teeth!  Are they brushing their teeth every day, morning and night? You really gotta get in there.
Sigh.
So the last time I went to the dentist was pre-pregnancy of Tuana.   So far, my experiences here have been dentists confused why I am in their office if I don't have any pain.  When I mention a teeth cleaning, they seem further confused by my very clean teeth.

Or maybe our dentistry system is just a big hoax that my mom has sold us all into - they built this huge system and culture of fear around the boogey-tooth-man in order to create another industry of business.

It doesn't matter I suppose - because even though I've never had cavity, root canal, or whatever else they do to your teeth - I do know teeth pain is the worst and expensive and painful to fix for I have had an infected wisdom tooth - and those subsequently pulled.  So it is with a little bit of fear that I regularly brush my teeth.
Thanks mom.

My new dentist told me it was good for me and bad for him that I had good teeth.  I forget how torturous it is even with good teeth.  My gums bleed like crazy (Do you floss?  Um... not enough.. (translation: only when somethings good and stuck)), and I swear they filleting my gums.

But torture over - I still had to ask about whitening my teeth.  I mean, my mom's teeth are commercial white and one step away from glittering.
"This is something about American culture.  You all like to smile and it is important to you.  In Turkish culture, we don't like to smile and we cover our mouths.  I think it is too much and it is breaking down the natural teeth.  Many of my colleagues do this and push it on their patients but then later must do root canals."

Now there's something I've never heard - a dentist that wants balance.