Horsing Around at the Dentist
When you’re sitting in a dentist chair, why should you sit there like a horse? A horse also sits in a dentist chair; veterinarians drill a horse's teeth too. That's not the way a Jew is supposed to sit. As a Jew sits in the chair and the dentist says, “Open wide,” why not think it over? Why do you have to open wide? Maybe you opened wide some other time when you weren’t supposed to?
And as the drill is going down and it hurts – whether it hurts much or it hurts a little – a wise person doesn't waste his life. He gets busy and thinks, “Why is he drilling in my mouth? Maybe it's because I open my mouth too much? I talk too much!’
Now naturally somebody will say, “Well, he didn't brush his teeth. He ate candy before he went to sleep and all that sweet stuff was twinging around his teeth during the night and rotting it away.” But I know a relative of mine who hasn't brushed his teeth since he was born. I'm not recommending it by the way. You should brush your teeth every night. Everybody, boys and girls, men and women, should brush their teeth at least once before going to bed. No question that it's beneficial. But this relative of mine has never gone to the dentist and he never had a cavity.
Now it could happen that he was born with an especial kind of mouth. Could be. But we have to understand that whatever happens has two reasons. Besides the material reason, there is no question that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is at the controls. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't yield the control of the universe to bacteria. He's the boss over them too. And therefore whatever happens is a result of His decree.
