My visit to the dentist yesterday was another opportunity to improve German-American relations. Since I was on the chair for 75 minutes, my dentist had lots of time to give me her opinion on the U.S. President and current U.S. foreign policy.

I had a small cavity on a tooth right next to the last of my four amalgam fillings, which had accompanied me for some 35 years (the fillings, that is, not the new cavity). The dentist carefully removed the existing filling and then worked a bit on the new cavity. She used some new plastic epoxy mix for the replacement filling. During the entire procedure there were a couple of times when we had to wait a few minutes, either for the base cement of the new filling to set or for something else.

So my dentist had a chance to tell me what she thinks about George W. Bush and the Iraq war. She is a very nice lady, about my age (I am guessing), an environmentalist and natural foods proponent. Thankfully, according to her, Germany currently has a government that refused to send Germans to Iraq to fight a war to eliminate nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. She is of the opinion that Germany would have been part of the “coalition of the willing” if Germany had a different government, a conservative government. She also deplored the state of the German
intellect, which has descended from that of "thinkers and poets" (a quote from some two centuries ago) to that of "hamburgers and hot dogs".

During another break in the treatment she read a manifesto to me from the chairman of the German branch of "Doctors Against Nuclear Weapons", addressed to President Bush on the occasion of his February visit to Germany.

I didn’t say a whole lot. How could I? My mouth was filled with a spacer, the tube for keeping your mouth dry and two firm cotton rolls to prevent me from closing my mouth. I wasn’t really in the mood for a dialogue on Mr. Bush or Iraq.

When all was done and I was out of the chair, the dentist and I shook hands and she wished me a nice day. Later I told my colleague Jesmina about my experience. She wasn’t all that sympathetic.

It seems that during her years at Ambassador University and on a visit to the USA she frequently listened to Americans telling her what they thought of Germany. Gotcha!, I thought. My visit to the dentist did double duty as far as German-American relations are concerned.