Endodontists Drill Obama For Root Canal Remark
President Obama's State of the Union aside calling the bank bailout as "popular as a root canal" has struck a nerve with the professionals who perform the procedure.
"While we certainly understand the president's intent, people need to know that root canals don't cause pain, they relieve it," the American Association of Endodontists -- who bill themselves as the nation's "root-canal specialists" -- said in a statement.
The President struck a nerve with root-canal specialists. Konstandinos Goumenidis/via Wikimedia Commons hide caption
The President struck a nerve with root-canal specialists.
Konstandinos Goumenidis/via Wikimedia CommonsClearly irritated, the root-canal lobby points out that "a national consumer survey published in 2009 shows that an overwhelming majority of root canal patients use positive words to describe the experience."
In Wednesday's speech, Obama told Congress and a televised audience of 48 million people, "If there's one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans, and everybody in between, it's that we all hated the bank bailout. I hated it. You hated it."
"It was," he added, "about as popular as a root canal."
Maybe Obama can make it up to them by helping the group mark Root Canal Awareness Week, which runs from March 29 to April 4.
Carey is a reporter for Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service.