Part of the whole moving and settling in process that we’ve gone through for the past year now here in beautiful British Columbia has been finding a doctor (which seemed nearly impossible without a family referral, which we got) and a dentist. The dentist part was much easier, as I told you last fall when I was about to get on a plane to host two events in Toronto and managed to crack a front veneer. 
 
We lucked into a place that’s new, picturesque – right on a lake – and happens to be staffed entirely by women. Except for the guy in the lab upstairs, who’s engaged to one of the hygenists. Still, Rob’s not sure this is the place for him and that has nothing to do with who’s running it or their level of service (although we’re still greatly missing the wonderful dental staff at Uptowne Dental on Eglinton). Here’s what his problem is: where to spit.
 
Although I was in the chair at least twice before he was, it didn’t even occur to me that this sparkling new office didn’t have a sink into which patients could clear their mouths after a cleaning. Instead, a suction tube is used – effectively, I thought – and nothing seemed amiss. Not so for my husband. This new situation perplexed him so much that he brought this up with the friends who’d introduced us to the dentists’ office and we were sent a link to a California dentist’s blog that explained the whole situation:

Sanitation in the Dental Office
 
Perhaps the most compelling reason to remove it was sanitation. No one wanted to clean that spit bowl, especially the assistants. In addition as described, hitting the bowl with numb lips was a challenge and often ended up with drool on the floor.
 
Water Waster
 
The cuspidor, its proper name, was also an enormous water waster and leaks from its plumbing proved to be one of the main sources of major dental office flooding. As more technology has come into the operatory, space has become more valuable and the cuspidor leakage a liability to electronics.
 
Dental Office Efficiency
 
Probably the most important cause for the demise of the cuspidor was efficiency. Time motion studies showed that dentists spent 20% of their time watching people attempt to spit and then trying to catch those annoying spit strings. Given the cost of dentistry spending that time just made procedures take longer and more expensive.

So there you go: perfectly logical, if you ask me. Seems a curious thing to be fixated on, but Rob, with whom I usually see eye to eye, is definitely not in sync when it comes to whether we need a sink. Trust me, that line works better if you hear it. Try the audio journal, won’t you? 😉