My kingdom of dirt

Today my hygienist had to show me how to handle an electric toothbrush, placing her hand intimately around mine as she excavated the remnants of plaque. A chewable purple tablet revealed the build-up around my molars. That is a mess, she admonished, pure dirt. I couldn’t say I was offended, or even surprised. My oral health, like other parts of my life, seemed to gather mess and dirt with a familiar ease.