The cosmetic dentist

I was dropping off a very chatty woman at California and Fillmore. This guy with a big bag waved at me. The woman got out of the car and said to him "I don't have time to chat right now." I'm not sure what that was all about.

I got out of the car and opened the trunk for the guy's big bag. He was wearing a badge with his name and the word DENTIST below it. I said

"Are you in town for the big dental convention?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I heard about that one. So are you leaving already?"

"No no."

I was a little disappointed that he wasn't going to the airport. He was going to a hotel on New Montgomery and Market. I closed the trunk and we both got in the cab.

"So you're a dentist?"

"Yep."

"Do you have a specialty?"

"Yeah, I'm a cosmetic dentist."

"Ah. So do you work on famous people?"

"Yeah, some. I did Miss California's smile. I also did Miss World's smile."

"Really. Wow."

"Yeah, and a few others."

"Do you live in LA?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Hahaha."

"I also donate some of my work. I donate smiles to battered women. I also donate smiles to kids whose teeth are all messed up from methamphetamine."

"So you work on them for free?"

"Yeah."

"That's awesome."

He told me that he is very anti-meth. He is a member of some kind of organization that fights meth addiction. It seems to be a cause that means a lot to him.

He told me he has two kids, 11 and 8. When he smiled, I could see that he had very nice teeth. I wondered if he had worked on his own smile.