For the fifth year in a row, marketing manager Anita Chekuri and Dr. Anton Rivera are beginning their beloved annual charade where Dr. Rivera tells Anita to start flossing more and Anita agrees right before they both have a big lol together.
“I love Dr. Rivera – we have such a great rapport,” says Anita. “And we just have had this hilarious running joke since 2015 that I’m actually gonna start flossing. Then we both have a good laugh.”
The charade is often followed by a lighthearted demonstration of how to floss properly, knowing that it will be the closest she will come to actually doing it until 2022.
“A lot of dentists aren’t willing to say this, but not flossing every day isn’t going to kill you,” says Dr. Rivera. “But every medical profession involves at least one pointless charade that we beg our patients to adhere to, and I just feel lucky that mine isn’t telling people to lose weight.”
Both Anita and Dr. Anton’s favorite part of the charade is where he gives her a free pack of floss at the end of the appointment, and she throws it in the trash on the way out.
“I always see it, but I never say a thing,” says Dr. Rivera. “That’s just part of the whole joke.”
At press time, Anita was on her way to her primary care physician, continuing the hilarious farce where Anita will pretend to exercise more and her doctor will pretend to genuinely care about her chronic pain.
