Some of you might remember that I promised several years ago to give up male doctors and only see women doctors.

Dr. Timothy Kelling of Northeast Surgical Specialists in  Saratoga got me to break my promise. He is the nicest and warmest doctor I have yet encountered on my wild romp to old age, and I’ve had some very nice ones.

He also really is a superb dental specialist. (Photo. Dr. Kelling and staff.)

Today, four months after implanting a screw in my upper jaw, he replaced it with a permanent screw that will fasten a crown in a week or so and give me back my full mouth of teeth. It was painless.

I promised to be open.  I wasn’t kidding.

Here’s an X-ray of the implant in my upper mouth. Dr. Kelling says it looks great.

I had a rough experiment with an implant in the same place five years ago; it got infected, and it took me three years and lots of doctors to fix it.

Dr. Snelling was the one who fixed it, and I decided to break my promise. He knows what he is doing.

I don’t know what they feed the staff there, but whatever it is, it makes them extraordinarily lovely and comforting. And yes, competent.

I’m getting my crown in a few weeks.

I want to dedicate this implant to a very dear friend. Her name is Iris, and she has been an Angel in my life.

Also, to Jean, an elderly reader of my blog whose dentist is begging her to get an implant.

She wants one but is terrified of the procedure. She wrote to me online asking for help.

I told her that the procedure was painless and fast so far.  It took about four minutes today.

(Dr. Kelling put a second implant in my mouth more than a year ago; it has fit in perfectly and comfortably.) I knew I could trust him again.

Jean said that if it went well and I put a photo of Dr. Snelling on my blog, and she could see how nice he was, she would get the implant.

I brought my monochrome to the office and told him about my deal with Jean. Dr.Kelling said sure, and he called the entire staff in for the photo. He is very proud of them.

That’s how nice he is, Jean. It’s up to you, but I encourage you to find a friendly surgical specialist like Dr. Kelling wherever you are and get it done if it will make your chewing and eating much more comfortable, as you have been told.

I’ll miss Dr. Kelling, my regular dentist, and Dr. Merryman, a charming and gentle dentist who will also put the crown on it.

On the way out, I said, “I hope to see you again, Dr. Kelling, “but on the other hand, I hope I never see you again.”

I imagine our paths will cross again.

We both laughed and shook hands. Thanks again, Dr. Kelling. You embody everything a good doctor can be, even though you are a man.