Speaking English - Going to the dentist

What's wrong? Yeah, I know. I have a toothache. It hurts. I have to go to the dentist. What's

a "dentist"? A "dentist" is a tooth doctor. Do you hate going to the dentist? I love going

to the dentist. I don't know why. Ever since I was a child, I have absolutely loved going

to the dentist. Maybe because my dentist gave me stickers to play with or something to take

home, I don't know. I've just never been afraid of the dentist. I always thought that it was

really cool to see all the tools that the dentists use and put them in my mouth. I was

a strange child. Not much has changed except I've gotten bigger.

My name is Ronnie. Today, I'm going to teach you about going to the dentist. Oh, the torture.

Oh, the pain. Oh, the fear. Oh, the fun. I'm going to teach you some basic vocabulary that

you need to know if you go to the beautiful dentist.

First of all, we have English singular and plural. So, singular is one "tooth". So you

can say, "My tooth hurts", or "I have a toothache" -- singular, "tooth". So "tooth" means one.

If you want to talk about more than one tooth, you would say "teeth". Now, ladies and gentlemen,

boys and girls, please be very careful with your pronunciation of the word "teeth" and

"tooth", especially "teeth". If you do not stick your tongue out and say "teeth", it

sounds like you say "tits", "tits". It sounds like you say "tits". Don't say that. So: "tooth"

and "teeth". You must stick out your tongue to get the pronunciation of this word correct.

The next word you might know already, but thing this is strange, and think, "Gum? Chewing

gum? What? What? What is -- dentist? Chewing? No, I don't know. I don't get it." "Gums"

are basically the pink -- can you get in there? -- the pink part above your teeth. So if this

is a picture of my black teeth, I have a pink tissue above my mouth -- or in my mouth

-- that surrounds my teeth like this, and these are called "gums". It is always plural. We don't

say "gum". We don't say "my gum", we say "gums". So in your mouth, hopefully you have teeth.

Some of you might not have all of your beautiful teeth, but that's okay. Don't worry. You have

your teeth, and you have gums. So "gums" is the pink part here.

Sometimes your tooth is sore. So you might say, "Oh, my tooth is sore. I have a toothache."

Say this with me: "Toothache. Toothache. I have a toothache." That means there's something

wrong with your tooth. It's causing you pain. Uh-oh! Most of the time, the reason why you

have a toothache is because you have a cavity -- "cavity". Now, "cavity" is simply a hole

in your tooth. So this is a beautiful, red, healthy tooth, and what happens is a cavity

makes a hole in your tooth, and it begins to rot right down to the root or the vein

in your tooth, and that causes you pain. So a "cavity" basically just means a hole in

your tooth. And because this is rotting away, it causes pain in the nerve in your mouth,

causing you to get a toothache: not a good feeling, not a good situation.

Unfortunately, the dentist is very expensive in Canada, so I recommend that you brush your

teeth at least two times a day -- to help with the bad breath as well. You may have

done a lesson on bad habits, bad breath. We don't like that. One of the reasons you may

have bad breath -- or someone, not you -- is because you have a cavity.

So what you're going to do is you're going to call the dentist. You are going to make

an appointment. Now, you might have noticed that I have written n-n-v-v-v-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n;

"n" means "noun". So this means it is a noun, and "v" means "verb". So what's going to happen

is you're going to call the dentist's office, and you are going to "make an appointment".

"Make" is a verb, so you're going to call and make an appointment. The dentist's receptionist

is going to say, "tomorrow at seven." -"No." They will arrange a time for you. I know sometimes

talking on the telephone is difficult, so if you can communicate with a dentist through

email, or if you can actually go to a dentist office, it will be easier for you. But

it doesn't matter if you call, email, or go there. You're going to make an appointment. What's

going to happen is the doctor is going to give you a check-up -- or the dentist, sorry.

The tooth doctor is going to give you a "check-up". This just means he or she will check your

teeth -- check if they're healthy; make sure you don't have any cavities; make sure your

gums are okay. They may even give you an X-ray. That's very expensive too. An "X-ray" is a

picture of the bone structure in your mouth. The X-ray lets the doctor know any additional

things -- cavities you can't see on an X-ray, but if there's inflammation or something wrong

with the inside of your teeth, the X-ray will show the dentist this.

Then it's time for the drill. If you have a cavity, the dentist is going to take a drill...

Now, you may know the word "drill". Let's say you wanted to hang something in your apartment.

You're going to take a screw and a machine -- that doesn't look like a drill, but that's

okay. And, basically, a "drill" is going to make a bigger hole in your tooth. Guess what:

This really, really, really hurts. So it's like taking a hammer or an electrical thing

and going "aah" and drilling your tooth. They usual give you some kind of help. They usually

give you some kind of drugs or medicine so you don't feel the drill going in. So what

happens is they take their beautiful dentist drill; they drill a hole; and they drill all

the bad stuff out of your cavity. Then they take what's called a "filling".

I forgot to write this down. A "filling" basically fills your cavity with usually a white or

sometimes silver -- gold if you're really, really, really rich -- compound and it stops

the hole or it stops the cavity from growing. So they drill, and then they fill or they

put in a filling to cover your tooth. The next thing that they're going to do is

they're going to have to put a cap on your tooth so that food or foreign objects, like

an airplane, doesn't go back into your tooth. So a "cap" is basically like a lid or a hat.

It's a tooth hat. It's a hat for your tooth to protect it from all the drilling. So a

"cap" is what happens at the end after the drilling. After the filling, you get a beautiful

cap. Maybe -- when you go for your check-up or

your appointment -- you don't have a cavity. Yay! What they will do is they will clean

your teeth. They usually use a fluoride solution, and they scrape all the dirty stuff off your

teeth. This is called "tartar". Oh, not "tarnar". Excuse me. So this is called "tartar", and

it's basically a build-up of dirty, dirty, dirty stuff on your teeth. So they scrape

it so your teeth are nice and clean. Maybe there is no help for your tooth. Maybe

the cavity has eaten all of your tooth, and your teeth -- tooth needs to be taken out.

What happens in this case is you have two options. You can get an implant. Do you know

another place you can get implants? An "implant" means a -- basically, a fake tooth. So they

put another drill in your mouth, and they're going to put, like, a nail or a screw, and

they just put a fake tooth, and they screw it into your mouth. It looks real. It's wonderful.

Not -- did I forget to mention that the doctor is very, very, very expensive and painful?

Or the other option you could go with is a false tooth, or plural, false teeth. A lot

of older ladies and gentlemen have false teeth. You can take them out -- scare the grandkids.

So you have options. If you have money, you can have beautiful new teeth. No one will

ever know you had a cavity. Go to YouTube. Subscribe to my lessons.

Go to www.engvid.com. Leave me a comment. Tell me if you like or hate the dentist and why.

Don't forget: Brush your teeth. Goodbye.