no cavities!

I had a dentist appointment this week.  I was one of those kids who always had a cavity when I went for my checkup.  Awful.  So much drilling.  So many amalgam fillings slowly leaching mercury into my system and making me even crazier.

But then when I was about seventeen, they just stopped.  I didn't do anything differently.  In fact, when I went away to college, there were probably a lot more nights when I was a little too . . . preoccupied? . . . to brush my teeth before collapsing into bed.  But the cavities didn't return.  I've had maybe one since I graduated from high school ten (gasp!) years ago.

The fear of the dentist, however, remains.  I still go to the same dentist who saw me as a child.  (Dr. Kincaid in Lawrence - look him up if you want thorough dental care mixed in with a strange sense of humor and lots of nitrous.)  I also retain the sense of ebullient triumph when I hear those words at the end of an exam:  No cavities!

One thing that always comforts me in the waiting room is this toy:

What are these things even called?  I have never seen one outside of the dentist's office.  I wonder if they are marketed specifically to dentists for some reason.