7. Open Wide and Say Ah!

7 Open Wide and Say Ah! National Dessert Day was winding down. It was almost time for dismissal. "Okay, finally we can get some work done," said Mr. Cooper. "Turn to page twenty-three in your math books." And you'll never believe who poked her head into the door at that moment. Nobody! If you poked your head into a

door, you might chip a tooth. And it would hurt. Didn't we go over that in Chapter Three? But you'll never believe who poked her head into the doorway. It was Dr. Floss, of course.* "Is it tooth hurty yet?" she asked. "I mean, two thirty?" Mr. Cooper rubbed his forehead. "I have more free stuff to give away!" Dr. Floss announced. "Yay!" everybody shouted, because everybody loves getting free stuff even though our parents pay for everything anyway. I figured that Dr. Floss would be giving out free skateboards or footballs or something cool like that. But instead, she passed out toothbrushes. Bummer in the summer! She also passed out these teeny tiny tubes of toothpaste. I guess they're for brushing teeny tiny teeth.

"These are just souvenirs," Dr. Floss told us. "Don't brush your teeth with them. Remember, if you brush your teeth, you won't get cavities. And if you don't get cavities, you won't need me. And if you don't need me, I won't be able to buy a new car." "You're just joking about that, right?" asked Andrea. "You really want us to brush our teeth, don't you?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Dr. Floss replied. "But wasn't National Dessert Day fun?" "Yes!" shouted all the girls. "No!" shouted all the boys. "There's just one more thing I need to do before you kids leave for the day," she told us. "What?" "Look in your mouth," she said. "I can't look in my mouth," I said. "It's part of my head." "No, I mean I need to look in your mouth," said Dr. Floss. Oh. That's different. Dr. Floss had us all line up. She gave each of us a little tablet to chew on. She said the tablets had vegetable dye in them so she would be able to see if we have a lot of plaque on our teeth.

"I hope you kids have lots of plaque and some nice cavities," Dr. Floss said as she passed out the tablets. "If you do, I may ask you to come to my office after school today. Tell your moms and dads to bring their checkbooks and credit cards, because it's going to cost them a lot of money. New cars are expensive, you know." I chewed the tablet. It tasted kind of bitter. "I've never had a cavity," bragged Andrea, who has to be the best at everything all the time. Dr. Floss said Andrea could go first. "Open wide and say ah!" "Ahhh..." said Andrea. Dr. Floss took a little flashlight out of her

pocket and looked around in Andrea's mouth with a stick that had a little mirror on the end. "You have a lovely mouth, Andrea," she said. "No cavities in here, darn it." "I knew it!" said Andrea. Dr. Floss gave her a lollipop. "If you eat enough lollipops," Dr. Floss told Andrea, "you'll get a mouth full of cavities." No fair! I wanted a lollipop. Next it was Ryan's turn. Dr. Floss looked in his mouth with the little mirror. "Ahhh..." "You have a beautiful smile, Ryan," she said, and gave him a lollipop too. "Thank you!" Ryan said. Next it was Neil's turn. Dr. Floss looked in his mouth. Then she took out her wallet and pulled out a dollar. "Here's a dollar," she told Neil as she