X-Rays

Last Tuesday, I went to the dentist for the first time in a year. I used the pandemic as an excuse for my normal procrastination. Cutting out dental visits helps justify my default decision to self insure 17 years ago. This time I joined my dentist’s Wellness Program where a monthly fee entitles me to free cleanings and X-Rays as well as other discounts. They will make money because I will still procrastinate on cleanings. But I will no longer worry about forgetting to bring a check to get my cash discount. I get so confused by the definition of cash. Actually, I get confused about most everything, including surcharges for data on my phone, fees for Paypal, or taking left turns. See, I even wander away from writing about the dentist. I always hate X-Rays. They cannot be good or the technician would not be hiding in the hall. But the dentist cannot get enough of them. X-Rays help upsell treatments but I have no idea what I am looking at. Are those my teeth? Is the X-Ray of someone else’s mouth? Is that actually a black and white vacation photo of Bryce Canyon? My Dentist would take X-Rays at a cleaning, schedule me for a filling two weeks later, and take more X-Rays. Do the first ones get lost? But something changed at my new Wellness Program cleaning. No X-Rays. Now that I get them for free, they seem less important. Or maybe the technician took a sick leave day for radiation poisoning. I should be happy I did not need them Tuesday. But if I had known it was about money, I would have paid a fee not to be X-Rayed as long as PayPal was not involved in storing data on my phone.