in praise of dentists

I had chipped one of my teeth last week, and my own dentist was on holiday.

Because I wasn't in any pain, I elected to wait until today to see my own dentist.
He took out my old white filling, replaced it with a new and shaped the profile so you wouldn't ever see I had lost a piece of my own tooth. Then he smoothed it all down so my tongue or cheek couldn't catch it.
Really an excellent job.

I shook his hand and said thank you.
at which point he said "its nice to see a smiling patient, and one who actually says thank you"

Shame manners are so rare they need remarking on
though I can understand why some patients wouldn't be smiling if they had painful teeth!