I was sitting in the dentist chair, with my mouth full of tools. My cheeks were being held open by a metal contraption. I hated my dentist, Dr. Richards, but my Dad made me go to him every 6 months whether I liked it or not. He was always so rough and horrible to me. The Dental Assistant Julie was always so mean to me as well.
Julie wasn't there today, and a young blond guy was taking over. "Stop whining, I'm nearly finished," said Dr. Richards as he drilled away with one of his horrible tools. This made my eyes fill with tears even more. "Forget it!" he yelled. "If you can't sit still while I clean your teeth, I'm not going to bother trying to do your fluoride". He stood up and stormed out of the room, leaving me alone with his assistant and all his tools in my mouth.
As soon as he left the room, his assistant powered off the machines. "Erm, okay..." he said. "Let's get you sorted out". As he gently took the cheek retractors and tools out of my mouth, he introduced himself. "Dr. Richards didn't let me introduce myself, I'm Niall." He continued. "Is he always that mean to you?" I nodded with tears in my eyes.
Niall sat the chair upright. "Okay, take a breather for a few minutes darling". He handed me a plastic cup of water. I wiped my eyes a little. "He's always like that, he'll end up coming back to do my fluoride. It's a routine at this point," I explained. Niall gave me a sympathetic look, "I'll do it, I'm not letting him near you again." I already started to trust Niall after just a minute or two of talking to him. He continued "You poor thing, why do you keep coming back here?". "My Dad makes me, they used to go to college together" I rolled my eyes.
Niall snapped a fresh pair of gloves on and turned the blinding light back on. "Do we have to do the fluoride?" I asked, nervous. Niall nodded at me. "I promise you I'll be gentle, we'll get it over nice and quick." I don't know why I was so nervous, Niall had been so kind to me after all.
Niall laid the chair back down and brought a tray of tools over. He explained to me what he was going to do. "No cheek retractors, no scary tools. I'm just painting your teeth with the fluoride paste, okay? And if you want me to stop at any point just raise your hand." I nodded to him, still a little worried. I tried to hide it but Niall caught on. "You can trust me, I'm going to be gentle - nothing like that horrible fella".
"Open for me whenever you're ready". I opened my mouth a tiny bit, but Niall pushed my lips further apart. He began to paint each tooth with the fluoride varnish, gently like he said. Eventually, we were finished and Niall knocked the light off as he sat me upright.
All of a sudden, Dr. Richards walked back in. I looked at Niall, panicked. Niall put his hand over mine as he turned to Dr. Richards. "She's all done, I did her fluoride" explained Niall. Dr. Richards looked annoyed "And you didn't..." Niall stopped him. "I said she's all done." As Dr. Richards turned around and walked towards the door, I mouthed a thank you to Niall.
Dr. Richards closed the door behind him. I looked to Niall. "How does a saint like you end up working here?" I asked. He giggled, "I'm actually a dentist but I was just covering as an assistant today. I have a practice up in Mullingar, and safe to say I'll be staying up there from now on". I was disappointed to hear that. "I was hoping you'd be here to rescue me next time that god-awful man tries to kill me with a dental drill". Niall smiled at my joke but gave me a sympathetic look. "I'll give you the number to my clinic" he said.
"So anything else I can help you with?". I paused for a second. "N-no" I replied. Niall glanced at me as if to say that was the most unconvincing thing he'd ever heard. "What is it hon?" he asked me. "Well.. just a little toothache," I explained. "It's probably nothing, how about I book an appointment at your clinic and you can look then...?" I really wanted to get out of this stupid office but Niall was not convinced. He put his hand on my knee. "Let me have a quick look at it now and whatever it is we can fix it up at my clinic, yeah?" he compromised. Seemed like I didn't really have a choice.
For what felt like the 100th time today, I was again lying down with a blinding light at my mouth and a dentist above my head. I was glad it wasn't Dr. Richards this time. "Okay, open up for me" Niall said. He slipped a mirror into my mouth. He pushed my cheek back with the mirror as he gently prodded at the tooth. After what felt like forever Niall was done looking in my mouth and sat the chair back up.
"So there's a little cavity on that tooth there, if you give my clinic a ring they can get you an appointment to get it filled with me" Niall explained. My eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I know you had a bad experience and I know it's not nice being at the dentist. I promise I'll look after you and we'll get that tooth fixed." I nodded and smiled through my tears. I felt bad for being so afraid when Niall was being so nice to me. Niall gave me the details to his clinic and then stood up and walked me out. Thank god it was the last time I walked out of Dr. Richards office.
