Dentist chair napping...

Today I went to the dentist.  It’s the whole reason I’ve spent the last three days here at Rift Valley Academy – my alma mater (“Hail, all hail the red and white!”), which also explains the need for my fuzzy socks. Anyone who’s ever tread the red paths of Kijabe knows that fuzzy socks are a must. Even in February. Not because of the red paths, but because of the temperature. Just wanted to clarify that.

So, back to the dentist.  Dental appointments are known to be hard to come by, so I was ever so grateful to actually get one during my time here at Kijabe.  My appointment was at 3 in the afternoon, which I thought was perfect – mostly because it left time for a brief nap after lunch.  A nap I took, quite contentedly. Then, of course, I awoke with a start because I was sure I had overslept and was going to miss my appointment entirely and how sad would it be to do something like that? I quickly brushed my teeth, because that’s just common courtesy, and headed off down the hill to the dentist office.  And of course, I arrived there at quarter to three. Gosh-darn-it-all, I could have slept fifteen more minutes!

I checked in, only to have the receptionist ask me two minutes later how I spelled my name. I know it’s such a difficult name to spell, so I told her.  Waited a few more minutes, and then I was summoned to the chair. A nice lady greeted me and told me she’d be taking x-rays, I said, “Great!”  X-rays completed, she led me across the hall to another room, where she proceeded to do my cleaning.  Buzz, buzz, scrape, scrape, repeat multiple times. And insert a woosh for that thing that supposedly sucks out the saliva and water and whatever that paste stuff is that they use to polish and clean your teeth.  Am I the only one who always seems to get my tongue stuck in it rather than the stuff they’re trying to woosh out?  No matter how hard I try, my tongue ends up half way up the tube before the person realizes she’s not getting what she’s supposed to be getting. At any rate, woosh, woosh, and then the lady got up and left. Just like that. She did turn off the light…but there I was, lying all the way back in my chair, with the towel still on my chest wondering if the rapture had happened. I could still hear voices, so concluded it hadn’t and promptly decided to take advantage of my current position to continue that nap I had started much earlier.  Did you know that dentist chairs can be quite comfortable?

After waiting a good while and getting a splendid snooze in, in walked the dentist, who picked up my chart and said, “Hello. I’m guessing you’re not Naomi Muthingi.” No, no.  Not last time I checked anyway. “I’ll go find your real chart.” Ok. A five-minute snooze later, back in he walked with my x-rays and what I’m assuming was my chart. Examine, examine, talk, talk, talk, and I was done.  Clean teeth and rested. Not bad for a dentist appointment, eh?  But the best part?  It cost me all of $21.  I love this continent.