Featured on @StorylineReddit: November 12, 2025
They run into each other next to the produce aisle. No dental chair, no gloves, no bright overhead light. Just a grocery cart, a quick double-take, and the strange intimacy of recognizing someone outside the room where you usually see them with your mouth open.
What follows isn’t dramatic. It’s subtle. A number exchanged. Casual texts. A joke about Harry Potter. The tone is easy, almost ordinary. And yet the setting has shifted in a way that can’t quite be undone. A professional relationship leans into something personal, and neither of them pretends not to notice.
It feels light. It also isn’t entirely neutral.
Not every romance starts on equal ground.
This story isn’t driven by conflict between two people so much as by the structure surrounding them. The attraction is mutual and uncomplicated on the surface. He’s flattered, energized by the idea that she has liked him for years. She’s direct, but not reckless; she hesitates, follows up her invitation with “if you want,” and later draws a line.
The complication comes from their existing roles. A dentist asking out an active patient introduces risk professional, reputational, procedural. That risk doesn’t erase the chemistry. It just sits there.
So the solution becomes logistical. Switch dentists. Transfer records. Pause physical escalation. Continue seeing each other, but differently.
The emotional arc rises quickly texts, dinner, two Harry Potter movies, making out on the couch. Then it stops. Not because the connection falters, but because the context hasn’t fully cleared. They settle into a temporary in-between: technically friends, practically more, waiting for the paperwork to catch up.
Text Version
My dentist asked me out, not sure what to do
CONCLUDED
I am not The OOP, OOP posted from 2 accounts: u/Bullshithistorian & u/ThrowRA-dentist
My dentist asked me out, not sure what to do
Originally posted to r/relationship_advice
Original Post Jan 20, 2021
Went to the grocery store over the weekend and saw my dentist which was a little weird but she recognized me and came up and said hi, we had a little chat and it was nice because human contact is so non-existent nowadays. Then she said she had to go and asked for my number, I figured she needed it for dentistry reasons if I’m being honest but I probably should’ve figured it wasn’t for that. Anyway after I got home she started texting me just with casual stuff, eventually we talked about how I’d never read Harry Potter or seen the movies and she said “We could grab some food and I’ll watch them with you” followed by “if you want” about 5 minutes later. I haven’t responded and it’s been 30 minutes
If she wasn’t my dentist it would be an absolute yes. She’s hot and she’s fun to talk to, I know we share a couple hobbies too which is always nice. On the other hand, I’m 90% sure they aren’t supposed to ask their patients out. I always thought she was being a little flirty sometimes but like I said I don’t think they’re supposed to do that so I never took it as flirting.
So I guess what I’m asking here is what the hell do I do? I don’t want to cause problems with her career but I also would really like to date her a lot.
TOP COMMENTS
reddit_toast_bot
Its easy to find another dentist but its hard to find a good wife.
Pantaz1
Also it’s noteworthy to mention how up close she has been with him, she already has an intimate relationship with his mouth and still had the balls to ask him out at the supermarket. Bravo madam.
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69sexysam69
You fucking go out with her and eventually become her trophy husband. WTF is wrong with you? Say yes!!!!
Hobear
I’d pretty much always follow dating advice from puts on glasses 69sexysam69……
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ChoseMyFate912
From the American Dental Association’s Code of Ethics:
“2.G. Personal Relationships with Patients. Dentists should avoid interpersonal relationships that could impair their professional judgment or risk the possibility of exploiting the confidence placed in them by a patient.”
She could lose her license for becoming sexually involved with an active patient. To avoid jeopardizing her license, have her write a formal letter discharging you as a patient. Then establish a dentist-patient relationship with someone else and have her send copies of your dental records to the new dentist before going further.
BatmansBigBro2017
OP, do this, even if it might not work out. She took a huge risk here professionally. There are a million other dentists out there.
Edit: alright jeez I’ll say yes
Edit 2: we’re going to watch Harry Potter on Friday, just need to decide what kind of food to order. Thank you for pushing me to say yes, I honestly probably would’ve turned her down.
Update Jan 23, 2021 (3 days later)
I know it’s a different account, got an automod message telling me I had to make a throwRA account so here I am.
Anyway, the update that two whole people asked for: we got together, had some food and watched Harry Potter. That’s about it tbh.
In all seriousness we hit it off pretty quickly, I kinda feel like we were already friends anyway, we usually talk a lot during appointments while shes getting all the tools ready and such so I know a little about her already but not being in that setting made it easier to talk to her for sure. Also confessed to a bunch of stuff, found out she’s had a crush on me since my first appointment 2 years ago and she was trying to figure out how to ask me out for a while, also got to hear about how she would purposely try to get a light schedule when I was coming in so she could go slower and we’d have more time to talk which I think is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. A girl actually wanted to spend more time with me on purpose
Another thing, I thought there were 3 Harry Potter movies not hundreds but we got through 2 of them and have another date set up for tomorrow so I’m not complaining. Also I had to take all the tests so in case you’re interested: Ravenclaw, and I have a wood mouse patronus. She seemed happy with that, don’t know why but she’s “in” Ravenclaw too so I’m sure that has something to do with it.
And lastly, the entire reason I made my last post. I talked to her about it and I do need to get a new dentist, which kinda sucks but its understandable and worth it. Not like I’ll be missing her or anything because I can just talk to her whenever now. Unfortunately until all the dentist swapping is dealt with we are just friends but we both made it clear that we want to be something more than that when we can. This might be too much information for some of you but if I didn’t include it someone would ask so no, we didn’t have sex and no puns about oral were made. We were making out and she stopped it, said she felt uncomfortable doing anything with someone that was still a patient so we just cuddled up and watched the movies instead and I drove her home afterwards. Honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way, it was probably the best first date I’ve ever had.
FINAL COMMENTS
Gotmewrongang
So wholesome I love it. Also, I hope you flossed before the date….
OOP
Of course! And I hid all the floss she’s been giving me at appointments too so she doesn’t know I don’t use it
Eternal_Isolationist
She’s your dentist. She KNOWS.
Source
It begins in fluorescent light and grocery-store small talk. She recognizes him. He gives her his number. There’s a mild awkwardness to it, but it passes quickly.
The escalation that follows is almost mundane. Texting. Teasing about never having seen Harry Potter. Ordering food. Sitting close enough on the couch that knees touch. Two movies in one night. Kissing. Hands shifting. Breathing changing.
Then she pulls back. Says she’s uncomfortable doing more while he’s still her patient. They adjust. They go back to the movie. Later, he drives her home.
That interruption carries more weight than the flirtation did. Not because it’s dramatic, but because it reveals something about how she’s holding the situation. A healthcare role doesn’t dissolve just because the setting changes. Access, authority, obligation those linger, even if attraction is genuine.
He doesn’t frame it that way. His lens is simpler. A woman wanted more time with him on purpose. She had been adjusting her schedule for him. That detail lands hard for him. You can feel the disbelief under the excitement.
And then, abruptly, the paperwork. A new dentist. Records transferred. A temporary pause. It sounds bureaucratic, almost unromantic, yet it’s what makes the rest possible.
There’s a small asymmetry here that never quite gets named. The professional risk belongs more heavily to her. The flattery belongs more cleanly to him. They both want the same outcome, but they are not carrying the same stakes.
For now, they call themselves friends. They watch movies. They wait.
Some lines shift slowly. Others stay visible, even in the dark.