Dentrifigual Force

In mid-May, I was scheduled for a dental checkup. I had a conflicting appointment and so cancelled the dentist date. I never rescheduled.

Months have passed. Soon I will have been a year without professional dental care.

They say that dreams about losing your teeth are dreams expressing fear of castration or, in the broader sense, fear of losing power.

But this is not a dream. It is REAL.

Why have I not rescheduled the dental appointment? Do I want to lose my teeth? Do I secretly want to lose power? Or do I not want a man to work his fingers in and out of my mouth for 3o minutes?

When I was a child I was very afraid of vampires - so afraid that I always slept with the sheets and blankets carefully wrapped to protect my neck. I did that well into my teens.

One of my greatest fears is to be eaten by sharks - the bigger the teeth (Great White, Tiger Shark, Mako) the greater my dread.

At USC, I made a short film called "Deadly Smile" about a wretched nobody with rotting teeth who is suddenly given a perfect smile - that kills whoever sees it.

My childhood dog, Snowball, bit me once on the hand. I still have the scar.

Saint Apollonia is the Patron Saint of Dentists.