For many people out there, the thought of going to the dentist conjures up images such as the one above (or MUCH worse). Honestly, I’ve never been one to dread going to the dentist’s office.  Maybe I have just been fortunate throughout my life. I never had a bad dental experience as a child, and I love the dentist that my wife and I use here in Tulsa.  He’s awesome! Now, lets get something straight. I’m not saying that I start doing cartwheels when it’s time to go to the dentist, but I am saying that it doesn’t really bother me.

On that note, I’d like to share a story with you. It will lay out some concepts that you can start applying to your life the moment that you are done reading. I promise.

My Teeth
Apparently brushing every day doesn’t necessarily overcome the amount of sugar that can be found in my Venti White Mocha from Starbucks (who knew?). As a result of my affinity for sugary coffee (and maybe a few sugary snacks now and again), I had A LOT of dental work done last year, but it really wasn’t bad at all (if you can forget about having to pay for it all on a teacher’s salary in the state of Oklahoma).  My dentist came up with an excellent treatment plan, and he took great care of me.

Just as I was finishing up everything we had planned to do, I had a tooth that started feeling funny. Great timing, right? It didn’t hurt, but something wasn’t quite right.  During what was supposed to be one of my last visits for the year, I mentioned it to my dentist.  He gave me a “hmmm….” and started checking it out.  The tooth in question had already had a root canal done twelve years prior to this. As my dentist looked at it, he said “you may have to have it re-treated.” Re-treated? That doesn’t sound too bad. What does it mean? Oh, it means they may have to do the root canal again! Nevermind. It does sound bad.  Then he dropped the next bomb on me. “I’m going to send you to a ‘specialist’ to get a second opinion, and if it needs re-treatment, he’ll be the one that needs to do it.” Where I come from, the word “specialist” is fancy talk for “more expensive.” Nonetheless, I did as I was told and gave the specialist (who shall be called ‘root canal guy’ from now on) a call because I didn’t want this thing to get worse.

When I called, they told me that they could get me in at 7:30 a.m. the next morning for an evaluation. Awesome! A possible root canal and a 7:30 appointment. Sign me up!

Sidenote: At this point you should know something about me. If, in passing, you ask me how I’m doing, I’m most likely going to give you one of three responses:
1) “I’m living a dream!”
2) “I’m better than I deserve.”
3) “If I was any better, I’d be you.”
I just don’t believe in being negative with introductions, and I love to see the reactions on people’s faces when I shoot one of those phrases at them. If people thought you would respond with a “well… things could be better…,” they probably would not have asked you in the first place. There are other psychological reasons why I choose to respond like this, but those reasons are for later blog posts.
End of Sidenote

The Second Opinion
I show up for my 7:30 appointment at root canal guy’s office. I’m sure you can imagine the energy that is oozing out of the root canal office at 7:30 on a Tuesday morning. When I walked into the office, the two ladies at the desk could barely manage to muster up enough strength to ask, “How are you doing this morning?” At which point, I whipped out response #1… “I’m living a dream!”

You should have seen their reaction. They both looked at each other with this “does this guy know where he is?” look. Then they both smiled. At that point, you’d have thought we were long-lost friends. For the next 15 minutes, I learned EVERYTHING about them. No, really. Everything.

Fortunately, the dental assistant came and rescued me a few minutes early.  I go into root canal guy’s exam room for my evaluation, and sure enough, “we’re going to have to re-treat it.” This keeps getting better. When can we do it? Oh, you can get me in today at 4:00? Perfect. Lets do it. “Just see Beth at the desk, and she’ll get you squared away with all of the financials.”

Little does root canal guy know, at this point, that I’ve already exhausted my dental insurance for the year (thanks Starbucks!), so I have already done some very extensive research on how much “re-treating a root canal” costs. By “extensive research,” I mean that I Googled it right before I showed up for my appointment. The internet told me that the price range was somewhere between $2,500-$3,500.

Much like the janitor in “The Green Mile,” I make my way to see Beth. You can probably remember the scene (if you’re old enough to have seen it). “Walking the mile… Walking the mile… Saying my prayers to Jesus…”

Beth already has a concerned look. That’s NOT good. “Mr. Croy, you’ve already used up your dental coverage for the year, so you will be having to pay for this out of pocket.” She tried to put a positive spin on it. “The good news is that you will only be paying the negotiated rate that we have with your insurance company.” Oh, that’s good. Tell me what the damage is. Biting her lip, Beth hits me with it. “Well, it’s going to come to a total of $1,080.”

“Beth, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day!” It really was. “Really?!” She aks. “Absolutely! I thought it would be way worse than that! I’ll see you at 4:00!” Then I walked out the door.

The Return
It’s 3:45. I arrive at root canal guy’s office. I pull the door open and walk in. I do not get one foot in the door before the two ladies at the desk just about knocked me down with their greeting. “WE’RE SO GLAD YOU’RE BACK!” Now I have the “do they know where we are?” look on MY face. “No, seriously, we NEVER get anyone in here that’s in a good mood!…Ever! It was so refreshing! We’ve been talking about you all day, and we couldn’t wait for you go get back!”

For the sake of time, I’ll spare you the rest of the details. The tooth is fixed, and we have all lived happily ever after (so far).

What’s the Point?
That short barrage of excitement from the front desk (my second time in the door) really hit me.

Even if it was just for that one day, I made a huge difference for those two ladies at the front desk.  Was it hard? Absolutely not! All I did was choose to stay positive in the face of a frustrating situation. Most people would have given me a pass if I had been a little grumpy or negative on that particular day, but by not giving in to that temptation, life was better in that little office for at least nine hours. People are starving for some positivity.

Does this work anywhere other than the root-canal guy’s office? Of course it does!

As I’ve said before, I am a high school teacher, and part of my daily routine is standing outside my door to greet my students as they show up for class. Most of that greeting time consists of me high-fiving students and asking them how they are doing. Sometimes they actually slow down long enough to ask me how I’m doing. Every time they do, I hit them with one of my three responses. You should see the reactions I get. I love the smiles, the laughs, and the occasional “You’re crazy, Coach!” This simple act of positivity sets the tone for the entire class period. My favorite part about this is when, as the year progresses, my students start hitting me with one of my own responses whenever I ask them how they are doing. They start telling me that they’re “living a dream” or they are “better than they deserve.” Positivity is contagious!

Positivity affects everybody. I see it every single day. At the grocery store… at the gas station… on the football field… at track meets… at Wal-Mart… in administrative team meetings… It really doesn’t matter where it happens or who is involved. Try it! You’ll be amazed at how much you are blessed by other people’s reactions to your positive attitude.

The last thing I want to leave you with is this thought:

Everyone makes a difference in the lives of the people they come in contact with. It could be a good difference, or it could be a bad difference. It is up to you to decide what kind of difference YOU will make. 

As always, please feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear what you have to say. Share this blog with your friends. We can all use a little more positivity in our lives.

*I actually do not blame Starbucks for my dental work. If you work for Starbucks, don’t be mad at me. Thanks.