Ann's suggestion was exactly what Peter had worried about. He knew that his teeth were not in a great shape, and he was quite self-conscious about being a patient. On the other hand, he had enjoyed examining Ann's teeth, and it would be of course just fair to let her examine his. Therefore, he nervously accepted.

"Okay. Should I just lie down here?" Peter asked.

"No, I think we'll do it elsewhere," Ann replied and grasped Peter's hand.

She led him out of the bedroom to another room through a short corridor. She switched on the light and it took a short while for the bright and cold fluorescent light to turn fully on. Peter was amazed of what he saw: a fully equipped dental office. He could even sense the sterile smell typical to dental offices. So far, it had been just like a play, but now it was like a real thing. His old dental phobia started to take over and he almost panicked.

"You have your own dental office?" he mumbled.

"It's not mine really. It's my dad's, he's a dentist. But he's out of town right now, so I can use it."

"But can you operate the equipment?"

"Of course, you fool. I'm a dental student, if you didn't guess it already. Now, please sit down."

Peter felt scared. In his mind he had accepted to let Ann to explore his teeth in the bedroom, but this was something different. This was almost like a real dental appointment, and Ann was almost like a real dentist. He liked Ann, and he was hoping Ann would like him, but he had been avoiding dentist for ages. Maybe she will be really disappointed with him when she sees inside his mouth? On the other hand, Peter knew he couldn't escape anymore. Not after what they had experienced in the bedroom.

Peter sat down on the dental chair reluctantly. The chair started reclining. When it finally stopped, he felt like his feet were higher than his head, although in reality, he was laying flat. Meanwhile, Ann had already put on dental gloves and a medical mask. She doesn't just have beautiful teeth, but also beautiful eyes, Peter thought. She turned on the dental light and directed it to his mouth.

"Open wide, please."

Peter opened his mouth, and Ann used the suction to remove the saliva on his teeth. The sound of the suction reminded him of his past dentist visits he had already forgotten, and he got even more nervous. Ann finished suctioning and took a close look inside his mouth, looking very focussed and wide-eyed.

"It looks like you haven't been to a dentist for a while, have you?" she asked.

"Must be five years or so," Peter mumbled, feeling embarrassed.

"Okay, I see. It doesn't matter. I'll now check your teeth one by one to see if there are any problems," Ann said, holding the dental mirror in one hand and the explorer in the other.

Ann checked every tooth meticulously and used the explorer to scrape here and there. Occasionally, he used the mirror to stretch his cheek to have a better view to the sides of his teeth.

For each tooth, she made a short comment: "Some initial decay on the occlusal surface... this composite filling seems to be leaking..."

Peter's heart was beating like a drummer of a heavy metal band. Ann's comments sounded like there was something wrong with almost every tooth. Especially his lower right first molar got a good share of scraping.

"This tooth doesn't look good, the filling is breaking down," she commented, sounding more excited than judgemental.

Finally, the check-up was over, and Ann removed the mask from his face. She saw the scared expression on Peter's face and tried to help him relax.

"It's not that bad, actually. I have seen much worse. You don't need any new fillings for now, but you have some initial cavities developing that should be monitored. You have also quite a few old composite fillings that need to be replaced at some point, but it's not urgent. However, it's important that you see a dentist regularly. At least you shouldn't wait for another five years," she told.

Peter sighed for relief. But it wasn't over yet.

"One of your composite fillings is quite badly fractured, and it can fall out any time. You should have that one replaced as soon as possible. I can help you to book an appointment for a real dentist tomorrow," Ann said, "or I can fix it for you by myself now. It's up to you."