I have an unhealthy love for my dentist. Not a romantic love, but a “what-in-the-world-will-I-do-when-he-retires” kind of love.

My dentist (Dr. Coady) has been looking after my teeth for as long as I’ve had teeth to take to a dentist. My first cleaning, my first filling, a referral to an orthodontist for braces, 3 wisdom tooth extractions (which I did without being put under because I would rather he take them out with local freezing than have anyone else put sharp instruments in my mouth) and so on and so forth. My daughter has gone to him for her first check up and he’s adopting my husband as a patient now too.

This morning I called Dr. Coady’s office about a pain I have that started yesterday in my jaw and has spread to my ear and throat. I wasn’t sure if it was a dentist issue or a doctor one, but even though he’s booked through to October, I got in to see Dr. Coady this morning to get checked out.

Now, as I mentioned, I have an unhealthy love for my dentist, but the whole operation is dear to my heart. It feels like visiting friends when I go to there and I don’t know about your feelings about dentists, but I’m thinking this is rare.

The woman who manages the office (who always gives reminder calls about appointments) engaged my 3 year old in a lengthy conversation about her beautiful dress and I can tell you that my daughter already looks forward to going to the dentist (again, thinking that’s rare).

Anyway, I got called in after a 20 minute wait (remember that they slotted me in at the last minute) and Dr. Coady took a look, identified the problem and explained everything to me. Then he apologized about the wait (what wait?) and told me there would be no charge.

Seriously.

Since I was a child, I haven’t had any fear of going to the dentist. It’s always been a positive experience for me because Dr. Coady is so kind and gentle (as far as dentists go, I suppose). As I grow older (30 on Saturday, hence the balloons, if you’d like to send gifts) I realize that he’s also kind when it comes to billing for his services and slotting in people quickly who are in any degree of pain.

I am not in a business like dentisty where I offer a service that people actually “need”. I am a copywriter and while I believe most people “need” my services, as long as you can read and write you don’t really have to come to me. I offer an optional service. Good copy isn’t really life or death. But, I am going to make a conscious effort to run my business with as much heart as my dentist does.

I don’t know yet what that means, I’m already pretty flexible with payments and I’m a fairly nice person to deal with. But, I want my clients to know how much I really care about them because I do. Maybe that means sending  more gifts or personal notes, but I want to do what I do with more heart and I hope that you might be inspired to do the same. Wouldn’t the world be an amazing place if everyone were like Dr. Coady?

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