She has heard "I floss every day" a thousand times. She has never once argued about it, she just writes it in the chart, because the tissue told her the truth before he opened his mouth. This dental hygienist shirt says the quiet part for her, and it says it without raising its voice: an engraved crest for the DENTAL HYGIENE SOCIETY, ring, molar, probe, drawn with total sincerity, and one flat line on the ribbon beneath. YES, WE CAN TELL.
The whole category is a wall of puns in plain type. This is the opposite: real engraving, formal serif lettering, nothing in the artwork winking. The craft is played completely straight so the sentence can land dry, which is exactly why it's funny and still dignified enough to wear to a conference.
Soft and easygoing, broken in from the first wear, with an emblem that sits in the fabric rather than on top of it, offered in a range of light shades chosen so the retro clinic style reads warm and rich.
It's the shirt she buys herself, the one an office orders together for Dental Hygienists Week, and the gift a friend finally gets right.
Proud first. Wry second.
