Yesterday I went to the dentist. Every time I go to the dentist, I seem to have another cavity that needs filling. I finally asked why, and the dentist said that it wasn't my fault, when my teeth formed, they were soft, and had too many grooves in them, or something. So even though I brush well, and don't overdose on sugar, I get lots of cavities.

But that's not the story I'm telling.

The story is this.

Right before I was to go in to get my new cavities filled, (one entirely new one, and one that was supposed to be filled last spring break - except I never came home, so it wasn't filled) the dental assistant had to leave on some personal emergency. So it was just the dentist there filling my cavity. My mom was in the room with me, because she drove me and didn't want to sit in the waiting room. She said, "I'll be your dental assistant!" And the dentist accepted.

Eek.

He had her hold the spit-sucker-upper (which I learned was called an aspirator). He taught her how to suck up my spit (drag the aspirator in a horseshoe shape, kind of around my tongue). He showed her where the cavities were ("look, do you see that little tiny black dot? That's the cavity"). He gave her some of the cavity-filling-stuff and showed her what it looked like soft, and then used the ultraviolet ray on it (to dry it) and showed her what it was like hard in my tooth (-hard, like tooth enamel). He showed her how he didn't just make the filling flat, he made it follow the shape that my tooth originally was (all bumpy-like).

Then, he said that one of the cavities cost $100, and the other cost $60, but because my mom helped, he wouldn't charge for the $60 cavity. (But, because of the way insurance plans work and pay, we'll probably end up getting charged for it anyway).

Another fun day at the dentist.