My dental hygienist gave me a lecture today after cleaning my teeth.

I felt bad for a while, but then I thought, Hey, take a chill pill. I brush and floss 99% of the time. What more do you want from me? And since I do those things, the rest is pretty much luck.

So get off my back.

The thing is, no one is perfect. These dentist people know that which is why they get to be on their high and mighty.

I am not buying it. Yes, I could get all guilty about that 1% that I don’t floss. OR I could get all worried about how maybe I didn’t brush long enough.

BUT I DON”T BUY IT.

Dentists are in a great position. I cannot look and judge for myself how my teeth are doing. I don’t know how to gauge the health of my gums.

So I don’t know how dire the situation is. I may need to have all my teeth pulled out by the end of the year.

Or I may be guilted into getting my teeth cleaned 3 times a year instead of the perfectly adequate 2.

But because I have no way of knowing, I am powerless. I don’t like that. And I don’t like that I am being taken advantage of, in ways I don’t know.

That is a basic human trait, you know. Knowing whether something is right. My toddler knows whether it is right or not.

“No Mommy! I need a FORK for mac&cheese”

She knows it is meant to be eaten with a fork. That’s the right way.

All of us know, inside ourselves, at a very early age, what is right and what is not.

That must be honored in all human interaction.