My Brother, The Dentist

Chapter 10

~Sam's POV~

With my first booked appointment of the day being in only 15 minutes, I had a short amount of time to see what I would be dealing with today. I logged into my computer and noticed the first appointment was with quadruplets, aged 3 years old. Wow, this was going to be eventful, but it's what comes with being a dentist that specialises in child's dental care!

Dead on 8:30, I left my office, headed round the corner and noticed two adults and 4 children in the waiting room, the children running around manically. I cleared my throat, looked down at my clipboard and began reading out the patient's names;

"Nathan, Elinor, Matthew and Rosie please."

The parents began to stand up but I approached them before they could move any further.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Chespin" I said smoothly, shaking their hands firmly. "Is this their first dentist appointment?" I asked with curiosity. The parents subtly nodded their heads 'yes'.

"So how would you like to do this? I have a small play room where they can go, so we could either take them into the dental room one by one, or just take them all in at once. The choice is yours."

Both parents turned to each other and murmured for a second, then the mother turned back to me and replied with "I think one at a time would be best, if that's okay with you" she smiled nervously.

"Of course, would you all like to follow me?"

The children's mother and father beckoned their children over and I led them all into the playroom where there were toys galore, from building blocks to colouring!

"Okay, we'll have a look at Nathan's teeth first then please" I said calmly, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the noise the children were making.

"Come here Nathan" the mother beckoned, causing Nathan to follow me and his mother into the dental room, leaving the father and 3 other children in the play room.

"Okay then, Mum you can sit on that seat there" I began, pointing at a seat in the corner, "and Nathan you can sit in my big boy seat right here!"

"That chair is big!" Nathan stated excitedly, attempting to climb on the chair.

"Do you need some help Nathan?" I asked, worried he was going to hurt himself.

"No I will do it!" he said, pushing me away.

"He's very independent" his mother laughed at me.

"I noticed" I grinned back, showing off my chompers.

Once Nathan was seated comfortably on the chair, I began to talk to him in order to calm any nerves he had, and also so I could get my tools ready without him paying too much attention.

"So how old are you then, Nathan?"

"I'm 3, I'm a big boy!"

"Yes you definitely are, you did very well to get on the chair!"

"Thanks!" Nathan giggled.

I then sat on my stool beside Nathan ready to start the checkup.

"So today Nathan i'm just going to count your teeth and brush them, is that okay?" I asked, whilst snapping on some gloves so he was less likely to notice.

Nathan nodded his head and looked at my hands curiously.

"Now I'm going to send the chair on a little ride backwards so it's like you're laying in bed, ready?" I slowly lowered the chair so it was face to the floor. "Now I'm going to shine my big light in your mouth so I can see how clean your teeth are!" I positioned the light to his tiny mouth, then grabbed a mask. The children always get scared of the mask as it's impossible to hide. I place it over my nose and mouth and hook it onto my ears, then grab my mirror and explorer.

"Now can you open up really wide for me Nathan and say ah?"

"Ahhhhhh!" Nathan holds, opening his mouth wide.

"Wow that's excellent Nathan, now just stay like that, you're doing so great!"

I continue to praise Nathan throughout the examination to keep him distracted, although he kept trying to close his mouth he was good as gold!

I finally sit the chair up and give Nathan a big high-five for being such a brave boy!

"I'm so proud of you Nathan, you did awesome!" I smiled down at the young lad who looked very proud of himself.

"Now you can go tell your brother and sisters how to do it!" I hinted, hoping they'd be as good as he was. And funnily enough they were! Well, until the last checkup of the quadruplets...

~ ~ ~

"And finally we'll check Rosie's teeth please" I say to the children's mother, who goes to collect the young girl and brings her into the room, whilst I set out fresh tools and stretch on clean gloves.

"Hello Rosie" I smile. "Do you want to come sit in my chair so I can have a look at your lovely teeth?"

Rosie shakes her head 'no' and clings onto her mother's leg, not making any eye contact with me.

"Go on Rosie" her mother persuades, "I can hold your hand if you like."

"No mummy, I don't want to!" Rosie begins to cry, hiding behind her mum, who then picks her up and holds the young girl in her arms.

"Come on Rosie, it'll be okay. Dr. Chespin here just wants to see how beautiful your teeth are, that's all" Rosie's mother explains, comforting her child.

"I bet they're lovely" I reinforced, wanting to gain trust.

"No! Never!" Rosie screamed, hitting her hand towards me in a desperate attempt to send me away.

"Should we just leave her checkup?" I ask to the mother, not wanting to scare Rosie.

"Well, I'd rather have her teeth checked if I'm honest, just to be on the safe-side" she returned, looking for my help.

"Well if you put her legs either side of you, hold her hands down and lay her head back on me, I could quickly take a look, if that's what you really want" I say, not overly comfortable with the whole idea. I'd done this method before but it wasn't nice to witness, a screaming child having tools stuck in their mouth; some may say it's torture putting it like that!

"Yes please" she replied cowardly, following my instructions. I roll my stool across to sit opposite Rosie's mother, and the crying girl's head is laid into my lap, who then expectedly begins to scream. It was difficult looking at her teeth as she wasn't willing to open her mouth at all, but I got a good glimpse and no signs of decay could be seen, so I passed Rosie back to her mother and all was finished.

We all join each other in the play room and I hand out stickers, small toys and sugar-free candy to the four children, who all thank me wonderfully, except for Rosie- but I couldn't blame her!

I waved them all off from my dental practice and finally took a well deserved 10 minute break!

he bell for home time rung and I met Kyle outside the school gates.

"I just wanna go to the shop first, Sam gave me some money this morning and I never spent it!" I declared.

"Alright then" Kyle responded, with a nervous tone.

"Don't be nervous Kyle, my brother's fine, really." I state, questioning whether I had just lied or not.

"I'm not nervous" Kyle said confidently. "Well, maybe just a little" he admitted causing me to giggle slightly.

We arrived at the corner shop, I bought a can of Coca-Cola and two sherbet tubes, Kyle however didn't want anything, even after I'd insisted many times. After a steady walk of chatting and joking, Kyle and I finally reached my brother's office and plonked ourselves down on chairs in the waiting room.

"We'll just wait for Sam to come out and see if he's free, if not I'm sure we can book you an appointment!" I said to Kyle enthusiastically, glad I wasn't the one getting my teeth looked at today. Kyle just nodded his head, seeming really nervous.

After waiting about 10 minutes, Sam came round the corner with a young girl and her mother. He waved them off then came up to me and Kyle.

"Good to see you Billy, and who's this you have with you?" he asked happily.

"This is Kyle..." I reply to Sam.

"Ah Kyle, it's good to meet you!" Sam smiled, shaking Kyle's hand. "So you boys just chilling then?"

"Well, we were wondering if you had time to give Kyle a checkup, his teeth have been hurting" I said on Kyle's behalf, which he looked thankful for.

"I can have a look at the end of my shift, which will be in about an hour, if you're willing to wait around that long?" Sam answered, looking at Kyle with understanding eyes.

I looked at Kyle myself and he nodded his head at me. I'd never seen him this shy before!

"Alright cool! Just make sure you text someone at home to let them know where you are Kyle. You two can go chill in one of my spare dental rooms if you want, you know, do homework or play on your phones. The wi-fi code is in my office if you want it!" Sam said seeming excitable.

"Thanks Sam" I smiled, sipping my drink.

"Thank you Dr. Chespin" Kyle said, blushing.

"You're welcome Kyle, but just call me Sam" he smiled. "And Billy, I'm definitely giving your teeth a good brush later!" he stated, now turning deadly serious.

"Ugh, seriously?!" I groaned, rolling my eyes at him.

"Seriously! See you boys later" he called, walking off down the corridor.

After sam was out of sight, Kyle turned to me not seeming so shy anymore...

"Your brother seems really nice!" he smiled at me, suddenly looking a lot happier.

"Well, to you he is!" I rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's go." I led Kyle into one of the check up rooms and shut the door behind us. We both spent 45 minutes helping each other with homework and listening to music blasting from my phone. Fall Out Boy to be exact. After '20 Dollar Nose Bleed' had finished playing, I shut down the music app and to my surprise, Sam was walking into the room. Kyle suddenly stopped spinning round on a stool and I slowly raised the dentalchair I was laying on back to it's normal state.

"Having a little snooze were you Billy?" Sam laughed, making his way further into the room.

"No, just chilling out" I corrected him. "Why are you finished early anyway?" I asked curiously.

"My last appointment was cancelled, conveniently, so Kyle is practically taking their place" he answered, picking me up from the chair and standing me on the floor. "Kyle, can you come take a seat here for me please" Sam asked gently, patting the back of the reclining chair.

Kyle quickly took a seat on the chair, his body very tensed. Sam noticed this and began rubbing Kyle's shoulders.

"Here buddy, just relax alright. There's nothing to be scared about. Just lay your head back on the rest and relax your neck and jaw, that's it" Sam said softly, taking a seat on the stool beside the chair.

"Billy do you want to go to the waiting room?" Sam asked me.

I nodded my head understanding that I may not be wanted. I was about to leave, when I heard Kyle whisper "no, Billy please stay."

I looked up at Sam for his approval and he nodded his head at me, so I took a seat in the corner just to watch.

"Before I forget I need to talk to you Billy. You don't mind talking in front of Kyle do you?" he asked smoothly.

"Not at all" I smile at Kyle, who was looking petrified.

"Well I recieved a call from your school earlier telling me about the incident you had today. I'm not angry with you because I understand what Kevin said must have made you angry. But I'd like for you to think about how you handle these things, violence should never be the right answer. Okay?"

Not wanting to make Kyle any more uncomfortable than he already was, I decided not to start an argument with Sam and left it with a subtle 'yes Sam.'

"Good boy" he smiled, then turned his attention to Kyle.

"Now then Kyle, have you been here before?"

Kyle shook his head 'no'.

"When did you last visit a dentist?"

"I'm not sure" Kyle answered quietly.

"Can you quickly smile for me please?" Sam asked.

Kyle looked up at Sam and smiled very shyly, looking very uncomfortable and not showing much of his teeth at all. He had his shoulders scrunched up and his hands rubbing nervously together. This was so unlike his normal behaviour!

"Have you had braces before?" Sam asked inquisitively.

"Only for a month, then I asked for them to be taken off. I was only 9 though" he answered scared like.

"Alright then buddy, I'm just going to lower the chair, I need you to relax though, okay?"

Sam held the button to lower the chair, but before it began to move Kyle had jumped out of the chair and was cowering into my arms. I stood up and hugged him tight, comforting him as much as possible.

"Do you want me to stand beside you?" I asked, looking straight into his eyes. Kyle nodded his head and I led him back over to the chair where Sam was waiting patiently. I helped Kyle's shaking body back into the chair and Sam continued to lower it until it was level to the ground. He then did the usual; moved his tray of tools above Kyle's chest, rolled his stool round behind Kyle's head, stretched on a pair of gloves (which made Kyle shiver), put on his mask and positioned the light to face Kyle's mouth. All this time Kyle was watching his every move and squeezing my hand extremely tight.

"Remember just relax your jaw, Kyle" Sam said, whilst gently massaging Kyle's jaw with his gloved hands. It looked quite nice actually!

"Can I have one of those massages Sam?" I asked cheekily.

"If you be a good boy" he smirked, looking up at me from his stool.

"Now then Kyle, can you open your mouth for me please?" Sam asked after finishing the massage. Kyle looked up at me seeming to want approval so I gently smiled down at him. He then opened his mouth only showing his front two teeth so Sam helped him out and soon enough Sam was exploring Kyle's mouth. It was interesting to see Sam work this close up! He used his mirror and explorer, tapping every single tooth whilst Kyle laid there helplessly with his eyes squeezed shut, waiting for something bad to happen. But unfortunately, soon enough it did!

The explorer touched one of Kyle's teeth causing him to whine vigorously. Sam quickly settled him back down but Kyle was now covering his mouth with his hands.

"Kyle buddy, I need to have a look at the tooth to see what the problem is. Please can you open up for me?" Sam said sweetly. But Kyle just shook his head 'no'.

"Please Kyle, it's the only way that i'm able to help you!"

Kyle grabbed my hand again and opened his mouth hesitantly. Sam poked around at the specific tooth for about a minute, causing Kyle to mildly wince in pain, until he pulled out his tools to declare the damage.

"Now, I thought it was going to be a cavity. But lucky for you, it's not. You just have a hard piece of food lodged between two teeth which is obviously causing you discomfort. So i'll just pull it out and you'll be good to go!"

This news causes Kyle to sigh in relief with a smile, until we both noticed Sam pulling out a small pair of pliers from a cupboard. He wandered back over to his stool and tapped Kyle's lip ordering him to open his mouth. He did as was commanded and soon enough Sam had pulled Kyle's left cheek back with his mirror and was tugging at a small piece of food, slowly edging it out from between the two teeth. Within what seemed like seconds, the pliers were placed on the tray and Kyle was finally relaxed!

"You must feel relieved now, huh? Sam laughed, tapping the boy's shoulder.

"Yeah that feels so much better, thank you Dr Chespin" Kyle returned, feeling a lot more comfortable now.

"Please, call me Sam. Now I'll just rinse between the two teeth....and....finished. There's no more problems here Kyle, unless you're thinking about getting braces?"

'Oh dear, here he goes' I thought to myself.

"Well, it may be good for my teeth" I hear Kyle say, which takes me by surprise.

"Don't feel pressured though, Kyle!" I interrupted, not wanting him to get ahead of himself.

"Well if you make up your mind, just come let me know" Sam states, pulling off his gloves and lowering his mask below his chin. Kyle hops out of the chair and I begin to walk out of the room.

"Not so fast Billy..."

In my attempt to escape my cleaning, I failed.

"Do you want me to go home now?" Kyle asked politely, not wanting to feel intrusive.

"I'll give you a lift home after Billy's cleaning if you like?" Sam smiled. He seemed to have a soft spot for Kyle, if only he had one for me!

"That'd be great, thank you Doctor.... I mean, Sam" Kyle responded, taking a seat in the corner of the room and pulling out his phone. I just grunt and throw myself into the chair, which begins to recline almost suddenly.

"Why can't I just brush my own teeth?" I groan whilst Sam pulls on a fresh pair of gloves and pulls his mask back up.

"Because you haven't brushed since you got your braces and from what I've seen you've had a lot of sugar today!" Sam replies somewhat angrily, rolling his stool round and adjusting the light.

"Can I at least get one of those massages first? My teeth are still aching you know..." I say trying to gain a tiny bit of sympathy. Sam rolled his eyes and began gently massaging around my jaw and mouth area, and it did feel really good! I closed my eyes and relaxed, enjoying my slave's work.

"Now open up please" Sam asked after a very small amount of time, to which I complied unwillingly. He did the exact same thing as before, yet just longer and more vigorously this time around. Although, it actually hurt more now as he had to get in between the wires and I still wasn't used to having metal glued on my teeth. After the ghastly cleaning was finished and I was all rinsed and cleaned, I hopped out the chair and joined Kyle who was playing 'Candy Crush' on his phone.

"Do you two wanna grab a milkshake before we drop Kyle home?" Sam asked whilst cleaning up the room.

"Yes please Sam!" I exclaimed, dancing around the room. Anything sweet was sure to make me happy!

"I'd love to, but I have no money on me" Kyle admitted, sad to the bone.

"Don't worry Kyle, it'll be my treat" Sam smiled, walking over and patting my best friend's shoulder.

"Are you sure?" Kyle asked, surprised.

"Samuel is a dentist" I interrupted. "He's got loads of money, don't worry about it Kyle!"

"Billy, you better not go around telling people that!" Sam shouts.

"But we all know it's true" I winked, as the three of us headed out the office and into Sam's car. I took a seat in the back with Kyle, wanting him to feel comfortable- being with a dentist and his younger brother. Kyle joined in with the conversations throughout the journey and it was a generally nice time.

When we arrived at the milkshake bar, we all took a seat around a wooden table with crate-like chairs, it was an interesting and edgey place, definitely not what we were used to!

"I'm just going to use the toilet, you guys be having a look at what you'd like" Sam explains, heading off in a different direction.

"Now Kyle, don't worry about how much sugar is in the milkshake. I know Sam is a dentist but he really isn't that fussed" I tell Kyle, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable.

"Okay thanks" he says, looking back down at his menu.

Sam arrived back and took a seat on the otherside of the table, facing me and Kyle.

"So, you know what you want?"

"Can I have the smores milkshake please" I ask.

Sam nods.

"Could I please have the silly strawberry milkshake, thank you very much!" Kyle smiles.

"Of course you can" Sam smiled at Kyle, then proceeded to order our drinks at the counter.

"He's definitely got a sweet spot for you" I whisper to Kyle.

"What do you mean?" Kyle returns, confused.

"I can tell Sam really likes you."

"That's good then" Kyle laughed, as Sam returned with the milkshakes; and boy were they good!