LancesWorld.com Journal

I found my mind wandering a little today and through a strange, convoluted series of twists and turns, my mind went from real estate to dentists, where I stopped to contemplate a very interesting facet of the dental profession - their seemingly ceaseless interest in the love lives of their patients. Perhaps it's just me and the dentists I visit, but every dentist that I've ever been to has asked me on every visit how my love life is, including my childhood dentist. The most curious dentist I've had so far has been the new dentist that I've started seeing here in Berkeley, Dr. Williams. On my first visit the day before Thanksgiving, 2006, the following exchange took place:

DW: Are you married?
LJ: No yet.
DW: Are you engaged?
LJ: Not yet.
DW: Do you have a girlfriend?
LJ: I do. (Note: At the time of this conversation, I did.)
DW: Oh good, I thought you were going to say not yet.

Dr. Williams left the conversation at that - for the time being. After this exchange, the examination and cleaning went along as normal, but I was asked to return in about two week's time for a secondary check-up. Not long before this exam, I had eaten something that caused a small abrasion on the roof of my mouth and she wanted to check up on it to make sure it was healing correctly. When I returned for this follow up, Dr. William's first question to me was, "How's that engagement coming?" Did she make a note of our conversation two weeks ago, I had to wonder? Or am I really just that memorable and fascinating that she was dwelling on my personal life for two weeks, constantly contemplating my romantic pursuits? I was a little surprised by the question, more by the fact that she even remembered than by the fact that she asked it (after all, dentists just seem to ask these things as part of their nature - do they teach that to them in dental school, I wonder), but I answered truthfully. "I'm working on it," I said, "Maybe next year [2007]." (Note: Again, at the time of this conversation that was still true.)

So, tell me, what is it about dentists? As far as I recall, none of my other physicians have ever asked me about my love life, and yet, somehow, every dentist I have ever encountered seems to take a keen interest in it. I swear, even dentists walking down the street probably stop every third person to randomly ask them how their love life is. Perhaps dentists are secretly employed by matchmaking websites like match.com or eharmony.com to conduct covert, sociological surveys. I think that's the most likely answer to this question. I wonder how my next conversation with Dr. Williams will go. I guess eHarmony will be targeting me heavily after they get her next report!