“Here,” he said. “Take this. It’ll help.”
The man eyed it suspiciously. “What is it?”
“Viagra.”
A long beat of total confusion followed. The patient blinked.
“Viagra? Wait… Viagra works as a painkiller?”
“It doesn’t,” the dentist said, deadpan. “But it’ll give you something to hold onto while I pull your tooth.”
For a split second, the room was completely silent. Then the patient’s jaw dropped. His eyebrows shot up. A noise escaped him that was somewhere between a gasp, a laugh, and an indignant sputter.
“You’re joking,” he whispered, scandalized.
The dentist kept a perfectly straight face. “Am I?”
The man looked at the pill in his palm like it had personally betrayed him. “Doctor. I came here to lose a tooth, not my dignity.”
“You said no needles. No gas. Pills were the only option left.”
“Not that kind of pill!”
The dentist finally cracked a grin. “Relax. I’m kidding. It’s just a multivitamin. We don’t usually use Viagra for dental procedures.”
The man exhaled so dramatically it could have powered a wind turbine. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“Better than a toothache,” the dentist replied.
