Cardinal Sign Control Freaks in Nature – The Dental Hygienist

Back when I was pregnant, I had this gal cleaning my teeth. She was about my age, maybe a little older and she chatted as she worked.

Having finished the horrible scraping part of the procedure, it was time to polish. She said she had several flavors of polish and since pregnant women are sometimes queasy, she was going to allow me to choose the flavor.

“You can have pina colada, cherry or mint,” she said.

I thanked her and picked cherry, feeling kind of puffed up because of my special (pregnant) status.  “You don’t let people pick unless they’re pregnant?” I asked.

“Right. I pick. I get to pick.”

I smiled because I thought she sounded like a four-year old. “Okay,” I said.

She finished my teeth. I left with my mouth full of cherry. The next time I was in, I was no longer pregnant. She finished scraping and was ready to polish. “I am not pregnant so you are going to pick the flavor?”

“That’s right.” she said.

“Pick something I like, okay?” I said, with a chuckle. “Can you do that?” I felt a little flustered, like I lost my privileges, or something.

“I may,” she said, making sure I knew who in control.

“Well I hope you do,” I said. I could hardly believing this was happening.

“If you’re lucky.”

Well I am lucky. I’m not that sensitive and didn’t really care what flavor i\was in my mouth, but I did think this was bizarre. Your mouth becomes infused with the taste and it seems if there is a choice, the owner of the mouth should make it! But only if you’re pregnant!  This means if you’re a man, you’d be wholly screwed apparently but I didn’t protest because I didn’t care which flavor and this was interesting for me to observe. People and their quirks.

Eventually it did bother me I switched dentists over this. I just didn’t want this matronly-looking dominatrix dental hygienist making these life decisions for me. What would you have done in this circumstance?

As for the astrology, I figured this gal was a Cancer. She was worried about a pregnant woman… dressed like a “Mom” and wanted control. Having a Capricorn rising, I like to run my own body so there you go. Conflict arises.

Would this trouble you? Are you strongly Cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn)?

76 thoughts on “Cardinal Sign Control Freaks in Nature – The Dental Hygienist”

  1. it would bother me a lot… but then the whole dental experience bothers me for control reasons. yep, some cardinal. I have to have gas to even let them in my mouth without crying.

  2. screw that, it’s crazy! I’d tell her and leave. I mean, she could just pick without letting you know she picks. But she tried to rub it in. Crazy!

    I’m primarily mutable, hardly any cardinal at all, only one planet!

  3. She had an ineffectual Saturn…otherwise she woulda been the dentist. And had control over more important stuff if control was so important. 🙂

    I would’ve tried out other hygienists and then specifically requested them (all the offices here are big enough to have more than one).

    Wonder why I can’t have enough memory to remember stories like this, even during retrograde…!

  4. The only cardinal thing in my chart is my Cancer Venus. I would never let someone have that kind of control over what goes in my mouth.

  5. I am equally split between Cardinal and Fixed, with Mutables picking up the slack.
    I would insist on picking, but I’d make up some story to go with it.
    For example:
    ” What flavors do you have? Oooh…last time I had Pina Colada I threw up on the hygenist, and I am allergic to mint, yes, even artifical mint…guess it’s gonna be cherry, eh?”

    Then I laugh inside as she squirmed!

  6. Five planets in Libra, one planet plus ascendant in Capricorn. I think that would annoy me, and I’d never go back to that dentist.

  7. This wouldn’t bother me at all. I have a similar issue: a hairdresser who cuts my hair the way he sees fit. And it changes too – he’s an Artist. Haha. There’s a trade-off here between the entertainment by eccentrics and control over my hair. I choose entertainment.

  8. Shrugging about this because I haven’t been to the dentist in so long. But the way I know I’m Cardinal is that even if I am going out with friends, I always have to choose the restaurant or manipulate them into going to the one I want. Sometimes if they want to do something else, I have no problem striking it out on my own and just leaving!

  9. I’m pretty mutable at the same time, on thinking about it, or maybe just indecisive. I wouldn’t mind her choosing even if she chose something mildly gross, probably. I would just sit there shrugging. At the same time, when people ask me what I want and I don’t know, I do know very well what I don’t want!

  10. I chose, “Insist she let me pick.” And, if she would not relent, I would tell her boss about it and let him/her know that was the reason I was switching dentists!

    More cardinal than anything else, but only by a thin margin (4 planets + ASC in cardinal).

  11. “I would insist on picking, but I’d make up some story to go with it.”

    Oooooo, Christine that is too wicked funny!lol
    Love it! As for me I have only a Cardinal Ascendant. Last year I overheard the dental hygenist say to another employee, “She’s ALWAYS late for her aapointments!” It was obvious that she was talking about me as I was the only person in the waiting room….and I was perpetually late.
    I canned my poor dentist over that incident…but not without first letting that woman know about it! Maybe that’s my Mars square Moon?

  12. A little while ago something happened that made me think of this. I went to buy a sub sandwich and asked the man who made it for me to warm it. He said, “No. You don’t want me to warm it. It’s hot already.” And I thought, “okay then, I guess I don’t want you to warm it, amazing how you know what I want.”

  13. She’d better damned well let me choose the flavor! It’s not HER mouth that’s gonna be tasting that crap all day, after all. She can go be a control freak with someone else, thank you very much.

    And um… Aries Sun, Cap Moon. Lots of other cardinal stuff going on. So yeah, I’m a control freak too, but I do impose limits on the things I’ll allow myself to be a freak about. I would never dream of telling someone what flavor stuff they have to have, though I might make a suggestion or two.

  14. I’m pretty damn cardinal, but because in a way I’m hyper aware of this in regards to othe people, I’d feel superior and ALLOW her to have her power trip. So the incident would all be ‘rationalized’ in my head and I’d be doing her a favor that she didn’t know about.

    Maybe I just need to THINK LESS. Suddenly I’m exhausted. I’ll give you some cardinal signs for some mutables, OK?

  15. i would have done just what you did–it’s not worth picking a fight over to me, but somebody who is getting off even a little bit over the power trip and/or the possibility of making me uncomfortable i don’t need. especially if they are putting sharp shiny things in my mouth. i prefer to be around people who are considerate of others whenever they can be…my chart is highly mutable.

  16. I have lots of cardinal, but I would never dream of doing what the hygienist did. There are much more positive ways to express that energy.

    If someone did that to me, I would tell her which flavor I wanted. If she had a problem with that, I’d ask the dentist to give me another hygienist. I’d rather do that than pretend I’m fine with it and then be passive-aggressive about it later.

  17. Well, I probably wouldn’t have got into a discussion about how she decided when to the let the patient pick or not so I wouldn’t have found out how psycho she is.

    However, had she managed to “let me know” somehow that this was her practice, I don’t think it would bother me.

    At most, I may subtly let her know I was indulging her behaviour and that I saw her as a bit childish and psycho but that I didn’t want to bring one of her tantrums on, haha. In fact, I’d probably see it as a game of surprise over what flavour I’d get this time!

    But I don’t think I’d give her the satisfaction of feeling like I cared how she livened up her work day. Assuming she was a good hygienist in other ways.

    I am not strongly Cardinal.

  18. In the past, I would’ve done what you did. But I’m trying to own my Leo sun and now I would tell her that since it’s my mouth, I get to pick the flavor. It’s only fair. This story really pissed me off.

  19. She’s not Cancer, she’s PSYCHO.

    I’m a triple Cancer (sun merc venus conj), and I always want other people to feel comfortable.. I always ask “what do you want to do?” or “what do you like?”

    Seriously.. that lady is just insane 😛

  20. The woman I’ve known like that is a Cancer.

    Q: Would this trouble you?
    A: Yes.

    Q: Are you strongly Cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn)?
    A: Apparently…

  21. I’m “lucky”!! (no, I only daydream about sex in dentist office)(oh-oh…. that may be sick!!)

    Erm… I mean my Dental Hygienist lets me choose the flavor every time. Except when she’s running low, then she explains it and apologizes.

    I love her…. except when she harps on my lack of flossing. *Sighs*

  22. my hygenist scares the hell out of me – I think she is a Cancerian.. first she puts the fear of god into me with a prognosis of doom, then when I cry she becomes motherly and says nice things, next visit not a word of the doom, says it’s all just fine..and when I probe for explanation, says no we just need you to know how important it is to have healthy gums.. which is as it happens why I was there in the first place, voluntarily

  23. As I was reading, I figured she was a Cancer too. I’m always amused at people like this. Don’t they know that the customer always has ultimate control? That’s why they call it purchasing power.

  24. I’m with SaDiablo on this – that hygenist is clearly a nutbag with some issues, LOL!

    This rubs be the wrong way for so many reasons, the primary being that someone is essentially having their way with your body. My body, MY choice, ya know? Even if it is something as stupid as toothpaste…

    It’s like being forcefed, see. Christ, I wonder what kind of awful crap she made her own kids eat at the dinner table if she’s like this at work…it feels vaguely sadistic if you know what I mean.

  25. My bff is a dental hygenist, she confirms this can be a two way street. She gets people in all the time that will excercise their “control” by “telling/demanding” certain flavors.

    For myself, I don’t like to make decisions for others. I have 3 planets & asc in cancer, so I want them to be comfy. I’m also highly cardinal, so I’d like to make my own decisions, and feel others should have that right as well.
    Angie

  26. Non issue for me ’cause not one dentist/hygienist has ever asked. On the whole, if they do their job well, I really don’t care . . .

    Mostly fixed, some cardinal and a smidge of mutable.

  27. I have a small mouth and an active gag reflex. The sound of tools scraping across my teeth bugs me. If she had any sense of self preservation (or wanting to keep her clothes clean) she’d let me choose the flavor all the time.
    Someone like that is likely to do other dumb things like cram a too big x-ray film into my mouth.
    When I had wisdom tooth surgery and I was under anesthesia, I reminded the DENTIST to take out the last tooth because I wasn’t going under again to take out a baby tooth.

    FWIW, I have four cardinal planets including the sun, three of them in cardinal houses, and a cardinal ascendant. How cardinal is that?

  28. I think it tastes nasty no matter what flavor they use but if she would have done that to me I would have told her she needs to get a life (after she was done in my mouth of course) and moved to another dentist.

  29. I think “cruelty” is more in line with dentistry.
    I mean, hey, it’s tough to clean enamel. Really.
    My youngest sister is a hygenist. A fuckin’ bitch if there ever was. Her favorite saying: “Only floss the teeth you want to keep”. Yeah, okay. Good one. Saturn and Pluto in the aspects, if you ask me.

    I got a story. In the 80’s I was doing some landscaping and did a barter job with a local dentist. It was merely a cleaning job. He had an appointment elsewhere and passed me off to a hygenist. She did not like or want the job. So, she took her anger out on me. Going at my teeth hard and furious for 20 to 25 minutes. No breaks. Constant orders of “spit”, “rinse” “move your tongue”, “No!! That way not this way”. So on and so forth. I got fed up with the bitch and her fucked attitude and… I FUCKIN’ BIT HER!!! She didn’t say a word. Good Idea, Sweetheart. I asked her in a very terse voice if we were finished. In a soft voice she said “(((yes)))”.

    I have many planets in Capricorn, as a lot of you know. I possess respect. You better, too.

  30. Avatar
    Stellium in Taurus

    I’m super picky about my dentists. My current dentist is fantastic and I wouldn’t leave him just because I didn’t like his hygenist. I would, however, tell him about the experience and try to get him to intervene.

  31. I hate the flavoured treatment and haven’t had it since the last time I threw up because of it, ha ha.

    This would bother me a lot. I would refuse to get it if I couldn’t have a choice.

    I have Cardinal, yes I do!

  32. That is beyond weird!!

    First why would she order 3 diffrent kinds if she did not intend for people to have a choice.
    Second ,there is no point in saying it like she did. She could say ..I normally use mint, however keep 2 extra flavours if mint makes you sick(no matter what the reason) we can use that. By saying it like that , I would have gone with mint ,knowing mint does not make me sick, and it’s saves the extra for people who need it.

    I would say if I was in that situation: I am the custumer. I pay
    and if you have 3 diffrent kinds. I make the choice. Your moodswings should not affect me. You need to get proffecional.

    Like I could or though of choosing what color blouse a custumer should buy, or what sirup they should have in their coffee.

    Give a friendly advice..
    People that are so sick when they a little power are super scary…wonder what would have happened if she was the denist…you ask for veneers and she gives you gold grits(unsure of the word )

    I

  33. oh we don’t get a choice here..and it doesn’t taste bad anyway! And I adore most Cancerians, even like my aforementioned hygenist, but think she musta haad some issues going on there that day.. while yours Elsa, sounded like she mighta teamed up with Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman to make a movie ; )

  34. these people make me so curious.

    i would have asked questions, i think, to find out why she gets to choose.

    does pina colada cost more? which one does she usually pick? why?

    if i were satisfied that there was some actual reason (besides wanting control) for her to have the privilege to pick, i would maybe not switch.

    Elsa, i wasn’t clear on the second visit. did she give you cherry or something else?

  35. My chart is strongly cardinal and I loathe going to the dentist (haven’t been in a few years in fact). I have very big nerves in my teeth so it’s always a nightmare.

    I’d have insisted on having the choice, and if not given it would be damn annoyed. I have the same problem with hairdressers. I like my hair cut in a very particular way and if it’s not done as I ask, I’ll never use that person again.

  36. My take is: I’m the one paying so I want to pay for what I want, what the hygienist wants, at least, flavor-wise isn’t part of the transaction.

  37. It’s not on the list. I would never have gone back. This isn’t because I’m more proactive than you are or anything: I would have gone home and just stewed about that until it turned into some kind of complex about dentists. It would make me think something like I had to move to a safer town before I tried going to the dentist again because obviously where I lived people were drinking crazywater.

  38. i get the hygenist.

    the other flavors are probably for little kids.

    adults get mint. fair enough in my book.

    she was probably being sensitive to the whole nauseous stuff pregnancy brings—totally cancer.

    you get my respect if you are willing to do the dirty job of cleaning another human’s mouth for them—-nasty, much maligned work

    “only floss the teeth you want to keep”—hell yeah.

  39. Oooohhhh…I just thought of something. I wonder if there was a flavor she knew was the “good” one and she’d secretly reward or deprive all the good and bad little dolls…

  40. I had another hygienist who LOVED cleaning teeth.

    I wish she’d not have told me that she cleaned her bf’s teeth naked, as foreplay…but she did.

  41. I’d probably take her on in a lighthearted manner. Tell her, “Wow! I used to work at McDonalds and they told me that the customer is always right!”

    Then I’d probably muse out loud about how things have really changed over the years, even when you’re paying for a service that costs a heck of a lot more than lunch at McDonalds….

    Then I’d suddenly perk up, struck with an idea: “Well you’re a dental hygienist and your professional opinion on these things is, ‘you get what you get, so don’t throw a fit,’ right? Now I totally want to know the dentist’s opinion!”

    Moon and Saturn in Aries–so yes, as customer I’d pull rank.

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