Toothpaste Adverts Dental Expert Argues with God
If she's a real dentist then I'm a ring-tailed lemur.
The artifice lies shrouded over her like London smog,
Lab-coat shod and glasses from the props box.
So earnest in her opinions, delivered
Slightly to the left of the camera to a non-existent interviewer
About how various experts recommend
A certain leading brand,
But you can see it in her eyes,
There's no passion, she doesn't live for teeth,
She doesn't dream of cavities,
Gum disease does not excite her.
And God says, 'Lighten up.'
And she says, 'Go pro'.
And God says, 'Lighten up'.
And she says,
'You can feel the difference'.
She's persistent, I'll give her that.
But he's omniscient.
Her lab coat is sparkling
Unbelievably white
Subconsciously saying to the viewer,
'Our toothpaste must be good.
It must be.
It really must be'.
Not a mark on it.
God hasn't got time for this.
He's got an earthquake to set off
In twenty minutes
In order to punish a small town in Italy
Because parliament has been
Debating gay marriage.
God's a bastard like that.
'Ninety nine percent of dentists
Recommend this brand',
She says,
And God rolls his eyes because
Thirty eight percent of statistics are just
Someone speaking out of their arse.
Without the lab coat, she could be anyone.
A soap opera background lurker, a corpse in a
Detective morgue, (Not a flinch as the grizzled flatfoot
Leans forward and finds a strand of hair on her chin,
Breaks the case wide open, 'We got him!'),
Didn't I once see you extolling the virtues
Of equity release during the advert break on Countdown?
Those silken tones and that winning smile last week
Ever eager
To flog J. Arthur Bowyer's Synchro-Boost Houseplant Compost,
And now apparently you're a dentist too!
God smells a rat, and he should know,
He invented them.
Dazzle with brilliant whiteness thy lab coat sublime,
Thou shalt not question the ways of
Thy lord and master,
Removes ninety percent of most plaque,
Thou shalt not
Covet thy neighbour's WiFi.
Oh dear god,
It's all one meaningless slogan
After another.
Do you need those glasses?
Or is it cultural appropriation of the near-sighted?
Frames bolder than a Brian Blessed bellow,
And that clipboard.
Just keeping tabs on everything, eh?
These are the questions I'd
Ask of God, along with,
Why should we worship you?
Are you really so starved of attention,
Affection, love,
That every now and then you'll afflict some
Poor kid from the back of beyond to a horrible disease
Just to receive a bounty of prayers?
Are you really so sensitive?
There's a leading brand for that.
And I?
I have an easily-triggered gag reflex.
Just when the dentist is in up to their elbows,
I start making a noise
Like a clunky gear change on a Ford Escort,
And you know what's coming,
That lab coat ain't gonna stay pristine, baby.
The moment I find a dentist where I don't
Start calling for Huey,
They'll probably put up a plaque.
I said to the dentist,
Why do you always look
So down in the mouth?
At least you get to the
Root of the problem.
A golfer came in and said,
'Most of my teeth are fine,
But I've got a hole in one'.
As I say,
I've got an early-triggered gag reflex.
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