Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1067, Major Dental Work.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1067.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
When you do, you can download the learning guide for this and all of our current episodes.
This episode is a dialogue between Sadie and Gordon about going to everyone's favorite destination, everyone's favorite place the dentist's office.
Let's get started.
Yes, I am.
It's nice to meet you.
It's a little strange to be set up, isn't it?
It was nice of Felina and Jaime to arrange this date.
It was.
Jaime told me that you're a dentist.
Is that right?
Yes, I am.
That must be interesting work.
Well, I think so.
Just today I did a root canal and removed a set of wisdom teeth.
Oh, but you wouldn't want to hear about that.
Sure I do.
I want to get to know you better.
In that case, since I live in a small town, I do basic dental work, but also act as a periodontist, oral surgeon and orthodontist when the need arises.
Wow, that's a lot of dental knowledge to keep up on.
I don't mind.
One day it's cavities and crowns and the next extractions, bridge work dentures, implants and inlays.
I had a very interesting case the other day.
Go on.
It's a little unpleasant.
Maybe not good dinner conversation.
Maybe you're right.
It's not always a good idea to talk shop over dinner.
Felina didn't mention what you did for a living.
I'm a proctologist.
Ah, I see your point.
Our dialogue begins with Sadie saying to Gordon, Hi, I'm Sadie.
You must be Gordon.
Gordon says, Yes, I am.
It's nice to meet you.
It's a little strange to be set up, isn't it?
To be set S-E-T up is to have someone arrange for you to meet another person in whom you might be romantically interested.
To set two people up is to arrange a situation where both of them can be together and go out, usually on a date.
That seems to be what's happening for Sadie and Gordon.
Sadie says it was nice of Felina and Jaime to arrange this date.
To arrange here means to plan and make happen this date.
A date D-A-T-E here means a romantic appointment, a meeting of two people who are romantically interested in each other or who might be.
Gordon agrees with Sadie that it was nice of their friends to set up this date for the two of them.
Jaime told me that you're a dentist, Gordon says.
Is that right?
A dentist, D-E-N-T-I-S-T, is a doctor who works on your teeth.
In your mouth, of course.
Sadie says, yes, meaning yes, I am a dentist.
Gordon says, that must be interesting work.
Sadie says, well, I think so.
Just today, I did a root canal and removed a set of wisdom teeth.
A root canal C-A-N-A-L is a special kind of dental procedure where the dentist goes in and removes part of the root of a tooth and puts in usually some other sort of substance to protect it.
A root canal can be very painful, or at least if you need a root canal.
The pain leading up to the root canal can be quite severe.
Sometimes people say jokingly about an experience that was very painful.
It was like having a root canal.
A set of wisdom teeth refers to teeth that are usually in the very back of your mouth.
They are called molars, M-O-L-A-R-S.
I say they're usually in the back of your mouth.
They're always in the back of your mouth, I'm sure.
These teeth often begin to grow and come in, we would say, after your other teeth have already developed.
And sometimes it's necessary to remove the wisdom teeth in order to have enough room in your mouth.
Unless you're like me and you have a really big mouth.
But for a lot of people, the dentist will remove wisdom teeth.
Anyway, Sadie and Gordon are on this date and Sadie starts talking about her work as a dentist.
And then she says, oh, but you don't want to hear about that.
Gordon says, sure I do.
I want to get to know you better.
Oh, isn't that nice?
Gordon knows how to say the right thing.
Right, guys?
Anyway, Sadie says in that case, meaning.
Well, if that's true.
Since I live in a small town, I do basic dental work, but also act as a periodontist, oral surgeon and orthodontist when the need arises.
Sadie says she lives in a small town, and if it is a small town there may not be many dentists there.
And that seems to be the case because in addition to doing regular dental work, Sadie says she also acts as a periodontist.
To act A-C-T as something or someone is to do a certain service or perform a certain service or, we might say, fill a particular role.
If you act as someone's advisor, you are giving them advice and suggestions.
Well, Sadie says she sometimes acts as a periodontist.
What you ask is a periodontist, P-E-R-I-O-D-O-N-T-I-S-T, A periodontist is a dentist who specializes in improving the health of the bones and the structures that hold the teeth in place.
So your teeth, of course, obviously go into the part of your body called the jaw, which is on the bottom of your face.
A periodontist would be a dentist who is very knowledgeable and specializes in taking care of the place where the teeth go into your mouth your gums, G-U-M-S and other parts of the structure of the jaw.
An oral surgeon which is also one of the things that Sadie says she does is a person who specializes in cutting open the mouth and the jaws.
In surgery.
A surgeon S-U-R-G-E-O-N is a general term for a doctor that takes a knife and usually cuts a hole in you in order to make you better.
At least we hope they make you better.
Because Sadie lives in a small town.
Not only does she sometimes do work related to the work of a periodontist and an oral surgeon, but she also acts as an orthodontist.
An orthodontist, O-R-T-H-O-D-O-N-T-I-S-T, is a dentist who makes sure that your teeth are straight, that they stand in a straight line, usually so that your teeth look better.
Although sometimes people need to have their teeth straightened because they're so crooked, it causes other problems.
It's not unusual for parents to take their teenagers to an orthodontist if their teeth are somehow not quite straight.
And that just happens naturally.
It's not that the teenager has done anything wrong.
Gordon says, wow, that's a lot of dental knowledge to keep up on.
The phrasal verb to keep up on something means to be informed about, to have the latest news about.
We of course, want our doctors and dentists to keep up on the latest research, the latest and most current information about what they do, so they give us the best possible treatments.
Sadie says, I don't mind, meaning I...
Am not bothered by the fact that I have to keep up on all these different areas of dentistry.
She says one day it's cavities and crowns and the next extractions, bridge work dentures, implants and inlays.
There's a lot of specialized vocabulary in that sentence.
Let's go back and very briefly explain what it all means.
Let's start with cavities, C-A-V-I-T-I-E-S.
Cavities are small holes in your teeth that sometimes the dentist has to fill in order to make sure there aren't further problems in the future with your teeth.
A crown, C-R-O-W-N, is normally something that a king or queen wears on top of his or her head.
However, you can also put a crown on your tooth, which is basically something that covers your tooth.
Many crowns are permanent, meaning once it's on, it stays on.
Extractions E-X-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N-S.
Refer to when a dentist has to remove some of your teeth from your mouth.
The verb is to extract, which means to take something out of.
Usually, it's a difficult process, but not always.
Bridgework is when a dentist creates artificial or basically false teeth that are then attached to your regular teeth.
Bridgework refers to putting in the false teeth, the artificial teeth.
Dentures, D-E-N-T-U-R-E-S, refer to the actual false teeth.
Bridgework refers to the work the dentist does to attach the false teeth.
The dentures are the actual false teeth themselves, and usually dentures are teeth that you put into and take out of your mouth.
An implant, I-M-P-L-A-N-T, refers to something that goes inside of your body.
In this case we're talking about a tooth, although women some women especially here in Los Angeles have other kinds of things they put in the upper part of their body, which are called implants.
But we are not here to talk about that.
Finally, inlay I-N-L-A-Y is a substance that is put on the surface or the outer part of a tooth in order to fill a hole.
That's one way that a dentist might prevent further damage to your teeth if you have holes in them.
Gordon is interested in what Sadie has to say.
Sadie says, however, that all of this talk of dental work is a little unpleasant.
Maybe not good dinner conversation, she says.
Gordon says, maybe you're right.
Maybe that's true.
It's not always a good idea to talk shop over dinner.
To talk shop, S-H-O-P... has nothing to do with going out and buying things in a store.
Instead, it refers to talking about your work when you're not at work, when you are at home or with friends or family.
To talk shop is to talk about work outside of the normal times when you are working.
That's what Gordon is saying here that it's probably not a good idea for them on this romantic date to talk about their work.
Sadie says, Felina didn't mention what you did for a living.
In other words, Sadie wants to know what Gordon does, what his job is.
Gordon says, I'm a proctologist.
A proctologist.
P-R-O-C-T-O-L-O-G-I-S-T is a doctor who specializes in problems of the rectum and anus.
Now this is one I'm going to let you look up on your own on the internet.
Because I know that Dr. Say put this word in the script so that I would have to explain it.
But this is one of those rare cases where I would like you to go onto your computer and put in proctologist P-R-O-C-T-O-L-O-G-I-S-T and anus A-N-U-S, and you will get that definition all by yourself.
I know you can do it, so just go ahead and do it, and then I've done my job, and you've done yours.
But if you really don't want to do that, a proctologist has to do with things related to your butt, to that part of the body that you sit on.
See, now you know why I don't want to talk about it.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hi, I'm Sadie.
You must be Gordon.
Yes, I am.
It's nice to meet you.
It's a little strange to be set up, isn't it?
It was nice of Felina and Jaime to arrange this date.
It was.
Jaime told me that you're a dentist.
Is that right?
Yes.
That must be interesting work.
Well, I think so.
Just today, I did a root canal and removed a set of wisdom teeth.
Oh, but you wouldn't want to hear about that.
Sure I do.
I want to get to know you better.
In that case, since I live in a small town, I do basic dental work, but also act as a periodontist, oral surgeon and orthodontist when the need arises.
Wow, that's a lot of dental knowledge to keep up on.
I don't mind.
One day it's cavities and crowns and the next extractions, bridge work dentures, implants and inlays.
I had a very interesting case the other day.
Go on.
It's a little unpleasant.
Maybe not good dinner conversation.
Maybe you're right.
It's not always a good idea to talk shop over dinner.
Felina didn't mention what you did for a living.
I'm a proctologist.
Ah, I see your point.
Listening to today's script was nothing like having a root canal.
It was just the opposite, at least I hope it was.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
