marathon men

It seems as though the only way to address the dentist is by his title. He is Dr Shah. There is a strange pleasure to be taken in addressing him this way.

+++

The dentist inflicts microscopic doses of pain. He appears to take no pleasure in this. Neither does it seem to bother him overmuch. It is a part of his job.

+++

When I was a child I had a dentist who used to say that cleaning your teeth was a waste of time. I liked this theory and adhered to it for many years. It tied in with my intuition that just because everyone told you something was the right thing to do didn't mean it was in fact the right thing to do. Although, subsequently, I have never come across anyone else, be they dentist or layman, who believes brushing your teeth is not good for them.

+++

Dental pain works extremely effectively in film or theatre. Everyone can identify with it. It is far more excrutiating watching someone having their teeth maltreated by the dentist (or anyone else) than it is seeing someone having a limb blown off or severed.