Principles of Good Dental Care

Brush the teeth harder than usual, having gotten no more than three or so hours sleep the night before. Pull the brush away off-cross the hot gums, then rinse-spit blasting the white bowl with bright red yelling, Blood! But, calm; ‘member that when entering battle, blood must be expected; as every martial arts teacher specializing in knife fighting likely will teach—if you get in a knife fight, expect to be cut—win or lose; so, stop your petty fear, and if you can’t, then immediately swerve off after another kind of art. Jesus Christ, look; look at all this blood—and, what’s that there, eh—you might feel brave to have entered the fight, but will be unwittingly choosing failure, if. The teeth; and if and if if, these teeth, fear; yes, fear saps energy even when down dormant. But now—where is the floss, hey ‘ere—the tooth floss—‘n there goes half your physical energy sucked in the fearing, eh—where’s the floss hidden this time—maybe in this top drawer here, look—there it is. So; use it the worst thing about it’s that the real fear will hold one back if ‘llowed to—yes, yes, use it ‘n use it hold back ‘til the curtain lifts and here paste comes tight into th’ bristling swarming ‘n’ smothering ‘nd upping downing ‘n backing and forthing full power half power or ‘s much as one third or less power and then, there you are most likely still here and now, so, eh. Ah. Cut on the water, rinse the brush quickly, jam it into the holder to the side, toss a hot Dixie of water in the mouth, rinse vigorously, spit swirling deep red ‘round down in the sinkbowl, every time. Need to floss, had said the dentist. Also Mary Jo, rest her soul, so many years back. They both said it, ‘gain, and all over, but some things never catch on, ‘til; ‘til; ’til drops of blood appear in the bowl ah rinsing and spitting ‘n expanding to a pinkish-red swirl spread out the entire spat-out mouthful. ‘s so common across all people to not get so many such whatevers, no matter how many times they’re told they got to get it. Even the children did not fail to get it. Grown people should all ‘t ‘ttoo, but; oh; here—and—a towel quickly wiped across th’ lips just as quick might well never have been there—something too big to see lies all ‘round them—grips to them at birth ‘n never lets go repeating and repeating over ‘cross them silently—don’t you dare brush after every meal; make sure you never ever floss either-or, and, by God, even skip a day of brushing every few days or less to ensure maximum damage’s done—ehhhh, then, a habit’s tight planted, and man, let’s say who, why and where, who knows, this class of habit sets tight, firm, ‘n rock-hard. Say no, no don’t, got to know this is a natural law; the first habit gotten ‘round any particular thing will cool down solid, nothing can remove it. Not fear of the painful black rot of decay, not the promise of countless torturous hours in dental chairs, not the way ‘t causes shouts of why do you always bloody up the damned sink I go in and there’s blood everywhere and everyplace—which then’s answered with, That? Oh. That’s a tiny speck, no way there’s blood all over—yes there is! Answered back with, no, no there’s not, and this forth n’ back tangles into a know of no what do you do you go in there with a magnifying glass no I don’t it hits me in the face—oh no you are looking for trouble, and if it’s not this it’s I don’t shave close enough I don’t clean myself good enough foul trimmings cover the countertop I am too fat I smell too ‘n I spatter all the bowls in the house the brown one the red one are kept deliberately foul as possible by me—why do you always attack me? Why do you act mortified by virtually every single thing I do? I say, eh, you’re damned lucky you, th’ you can’t read my mind, ‘cause you’d probably burst with anger, embarrassment, fear, and regret we ever walked down that aisle that day oh yeah oh, yeah, the day we walked down that aisle, what the hell did you expect ‘fter that ‘cause you knew what you were getting into. You knew how I was. Shut off the water, you knew what you were getting into; be sure it’s shut tight. Shut head down right into the next dental drill, the next root canal, the next cutting back o’ the gums the horror the hor’, nd the next cry at the approaching gum-numbing needle, oh my God no—but enough. I must keep on with that word; that disease; this gum rot; these abscesses pus flows punctured stench-breaths, oh Lord that taste in our mouths oh my God what a hoot’n a holler how awful these tastes in our mouths! Okay, right; say ‘re near the end, ‘re gonna wanna go ‘round get the hell out o’ this thing clung on you! Say you will take the children too, and plus ‘top it all we still do what we’re warned against, always leaving everyt’ we pass this way, bloody. ‘membering ‘member; if you get in a knife fight, expect to be cut—win or lose; ‘member that, eh wha’? So, stop your petty fears, and if you can’t, look back down in yourself ‘n immediately find yourself another whatever ‘amn ‘k of a thing applies at the time.

So. Pleased at this last long look in the mirror? Then cut off the water begin leaving bathroom—but not after checking for those telltale red flecks. Check and check. Not a single one must be missed. It’s a thing you know. Where picked up? No, doesn’t matter. What matters it’s a thing. Always—and no doubt, forever, but—eh, wipe down this streak on the mirror—there, it’s gone. And that one that other one up top there. Yes, too. See that? It’s all choices. This that and all other ‘re—choices. Eh. Turn around now, completely forget now, and go. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.