DEAR ABBY: Often, when I have a dental appointment, it will be scheduled in the late morning -- around 10 or 11. I think it would be terrible manners to eat before going, and have the dentist dig through the food in my teeth.
After the actual cleaning and then following the instruction of waiting before the next meal, it could be as late as 1 p.m. in the afternoon before I get my first meal of the day. Some people have good stamina, I suppose, but it is very hard for me to wait that long.
Have you any suggestions about how not to go hungry and yet not be rude to the dentist? -- CLEAN TEETH, RUMBLING TUMMY
DEAR C.T.R.T.: Enjoy a nourishing breakfast and then thoroughly brush and floss your teeth afterward. If you will be eating out, take along one of those little travel brushes and mini-toothpastes that are sold at markets and drugstores everywhere. That way you won't be hungry, and your dentist won't be grossed out.