Creative Excuses

"This one is an emergency," the dental assistant announced.

Rey nodded and waited for the patient. She only started work yesterday at the Organa Dental Clinic. She had met Dr. Rose, Dr. Finn, and the others and her boss Dr. Leia, a well known orthodontist.

She had her back turned, putting on her gloves when her first patient arrived. The chart said Kylo Ren. The last entry was oral prophylaxis done by Dr. Finn about 8 months ago.

He missed his last regular teeth cleaning by nearly 2 months. He should have received a postcard informing him about that but probably it was only because of the emergency that he was here.

"So what's the emergency?" asked Rey, sitting on the stool beside the dental chair now occupied by the patient.

Kylo glanced at his mom's newly hired dentist. He wondered where Dr. Rose and Dr. Finn are. They were usually the ones that handled him.

Rather than answering, Kylo asked a question of his own, "Who are you?"

"I'm Dr. Rey." Rey gestured at the name embroidered on her white coat. "I'll treat you today. So what's the emergency?"

Kylo frowned. He did not want a new, untried dentist but...Finally, deciding that this is an emergency. He just couldn't wait for Rose or Finn to see him. As he was already seated on the dental chair, he pointed at his front tooth. If this Rey is a good dentist, she should have noticed it already!

Rey reclined the chair by pressing a button.

Kylo hated lying down while someone poked inside his mouth under a spot light. If his mom had her way, he would have worn metal. Leia wouldn't trust him with anything removable.

"Open your mouth," Rey requested.

The only good thing arising from having a dentist for a mother is...he got good teeth. Crooked, yes, but still sound. Kylo opened his mouth wide, starting to feel a bit conscious.

Rey then saw that the emergency was just a tiny bit of chipped enamel on his right upper central incisor. So tiny, she could just...

"Do it fast," Kylo demanded. "I have to go to the office after this."

"You want your cleaning done too—"

"No!"

Her first duty in her first job was to treat a minuscule tiny enamel chip on a grumpy patient. She did it fast. And when she was done, there was no Thank you. The patient just pulled his long body up from the chair and..left.

The next time Rey saw Kylo's chart was the next day. There was a notation by the assistant that said, will only see Dr. Rey

Rey groaned.

The patient was back for oral prophy and she wondered if she could delegate.

—oOo—

A year later...

"What's the emergency this time, Kylo?" Rey asked, too used to these 'emergency' claims that she didn't even need an assistant with her.

Kylo took his seat, and extended his tongue out. "Could be cancer."

Rey frowned. Impossible, she sees him regularly. She reclined the dental chair, turned on the overhead light, and checked her patient's tongue. She immediately noticed a half-moon shaped, white lesion on Kylo's tongue tip. "That's not cancer. That's just an aphthous stomatitis. In your language, just a canker sore.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Kylo, with piercing eyes staring up at his dentist who was seated on a stool chair on his right side.

Rey answered with an exasperated sigh, "Because that was exactly the area I bit 2 nights ago. I can even see my incisal tooth mark."

"So I'm not dying and I can still kiss my girl?"

"Silly! You're definitely not dying. And you can still kiss your cute girlfriend."

"How can you call her cute after what she did?!" complains Kylo. "It's really painful. And it will hurt to kiss her. Maybe I shouldn't kiss her for now."

Rey cringes. "I'll apply a medication. It will sting a little—okay a lot. But then we can't have you not able to kiss your not cute girlfriend."

From his supine position, Kylo suddenly reached up his hand to remove Rey's surgical face mask that obscured her face. "Hmn you're right. She's cute." His large hand then traveled to the back of her head to pull her head down closer to his lips. "Maybe I should kiss her now before I die from the medication."

—oOo—

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