Beneath the Underbite

Tusks and Tingles

[Lena]

One afternoon, a rare quiet settled over the office.

My schedule had a two-hour gap because a patient canceled last-minute. Honestly, it was a gift I hardly ever got, and I felt this weird, restless energy.

I’d just finished a pretty tricky procedure on a Nymph—their pearly teeth need a super specific dental compound, by the way—and the adrenaline was still humming through my veins. I’d already cleaned all my instruments, organized my notes, and even updated my blog post on how to properly floss a goblin’s sharp canines.

Yeah, real thrilling stuff.

I leaned back in my chair, the silence in the office feeling really strange after the usual hum of my tools. That’s when I noticed Clara, my super cheerful human receptionist, at the front desk. She was absolutely swamped with a mountain of phone messages.

With a sigh, I pushed my chair back, the wheels making a soft thump on the plush rug.

"Clara, go on your break," I said, my voice probably a bit louder than I meant it to be in the stillness. "I'll take care of these."

Clara’s face instantly lit up, a look of genuine gratitude passing over her features.

"Are you sure, Dr. Hanson?" she asked.

"I am," I confirmed, walking over to the front desk. "Go. You deserve it."

Clara practically skipped out of the office, leaving me alone with the blinking red light of the voicemail machine. I settled into her chair, picked up the headset, and started returning calls.

Most were just routine stuff: appointment confirmations, billing questions, the usual.

Then I got to the last one. A new patient!

I pressed play on the message, and a deep, resonant voice filled the headset.

It was unlike any voice I’d ever heard. It wasn't just a sound; it was a physical sensation, a low vibration that went straight to my core. Seriously, it was weirdly powerful. He was hoping to get on my schedule for a deep cleaning.

I picked up the phone to call him back, my fingers already tingling. The moment he answered, that deep, resonant voice filled my ear again, sending an immediate, inexplicable shiver right through me. It spoke to something primal, something I rarely, if ever, acknowledged.

On autopilot, my professional habits kicked in.

"Hanson Dental, Dr. Hanson speaking. I'm returning your call about scheduling a deep cleaning. Could I get your full name, please?" I asked, trying to sound completely normal, even as his voice buzzed in my very bones.

"Thork Oakenfall," he rumbled.

I scribbled it down, distracted, before asking, "And your species, Mr. Oakenfall?"

"Orc," he replied, and just like that, I was snapped back to reality.

Orc!

My mind, which is usually so precise and totally under control, suddenly buzzed with a fresh, professional excitement. I mean, I’d never had an Orc patient before. This was amazing!

"And do you have any specific concerns you'd like me to note for your visit, Mr. Oakenfall?" I asked, pulling up a new patient chart and confidently typing "Orc" into the species field.

"Well," he began, his voice still a low, captivating rumble, "if possible, I'd like to get some stains removed from my tusks."

Tusks!

A jolt of pure, exhilarating energy shot through me, now entirely focused on the scientific exploration of his oral anatomy. Tusks just screamed Orc to me, and now I was going to get to study them up close!

We went through the scheduling, settling on a day and time that worked.

"Excellent, Mr. Oakenfall," I concluded, trying to keep my voice even. "We'll see you then."

"See you then," he replied, and that simple phrase, delivered in his deep voice, sent a fresh wave of tingles to my core.

I quickly dismissed it, of course, as nothing more than the thrill of a new, complex case. A new patient, a new case study, a whole new frontier for Lena Hanson, DDS. And for the first time in a very long time, my heart was thrumming with an excitement that went way, way beyond just my job.