Rozner: A hockey stick, two teeth and small business

When I was 17, my two front teeth were victims of a hockey stick. It wasn't the only time, but it was among the worst.

This particular hack occurred on a Friday night, so early the next morning I went to see a dentist for an emergency appointment.

Wasn't my guy. Couldn't get in to see my dentist, so at 6 a.m. on a Saturday I was in a foreign chair with an unfamiliar doctor.

The two front teeth had been pushed back quite a distance and still bleeding, and after examining the injured portion of my mouth for a matter of seconds, the new dentist gave me no time to run for the exit.

Rather than prepare me in any way, he simply grabbed those two teeth with his thumb and yanked them back into place.

Yep.

I'll put that pain up against any I've experienced. Still sweat when I think about it. Has a certain Steve Martin, "Little Shop of Horrors" feel to it, right?

Funny part is I stayed with that same dentist for 30 years until he retired a few years ago. Suppose that says something about me. The teeth, fortunately, survived another 25 years with root canals and miracle patches, until they finally died and were replaced by a pair of very expensive implants.

Now that has nothing to do with our subject matter today, but I enjoy telling that story and when my former doc sees it on social media - most likely on my Facebook page - he will fess up.

Anyway, I have a new dentist now. Good guy with a small practice, a very small business of less than 10 that is currently shut down.

He pays rent at his office, has a mortgage on his house, kids in college and bills to sort through, just like all the rest of us.

So he sits and wonders.

But he's not taking his family out to dinner, and the people who work at restaurants can't pay their bills or buy groceries.

He's not going to the cleaners or getting his hair cut, and the people who work there can't pay their rent and don't spend any money on their families.

He's not going to his local pizza place, driving range, gym or mom-and-pop breakfast joint because mostly everything is closed, and all of the people who work at all of those places aren't getting paid and those people aren't spending money at the local shops.

And all of the people who work at all of those local shops don't have money to spend on all of the things they need to spend money on, mostly at small businesses.

The doc's small staff is now struggling with him, which means all of them aren't out doing all of the things they would normally do, paying rent, buying clothes for their kids and spending their dollars at local stores.

And so it goes, around and around and around, this destruction of the economy one person at a time, one small business at a time.

Many of them will never reopen. Many of those workers will struggle to find jobs again, and they are the ones who need work the most.

Thing is, you can still support the local joints because some are open for pickup or delivery. It can be done safely and without fear.

And when we are finally allowed out into the world again, if we have jobs and can afford it, we can help the local coffee shop, bar, restaurant, hardware store, cleaners, pizza place and whatever else we can patronize closest to home.

One hundred million Americans work in the service industry. Small business is 40 percent of all business. And 70 percent of our economy is driven by consumer spending.

No job, no spending. No spending, no job.

It's pretty simple math.

Tens of millions of Americans living on the margins are really hurting right now, bankruptcy and food banks their best options.

It's heartbreaking.

A lot of big businesses are open, where many people shop at once, but the small businesses are closed, which makes precisely no sense. Science, in this case, is in the eye of the government beholder.

Small businesses have always been there for us and we hope to be there for them as soon as we're given the freedom to live again.

I know my current dentist will do his part and, by the way, if you're looking for one, message me and I'll get you his info.

As for my retired dentist, I know he will also help support the local businesses. He certainly cashed enough checks from me off crowns, inlays, repairs and replacements.

I hope he's enjoying retirement, just so long as he knows I will forever tell the story of how he grabbed those teeth without even a consideration for Novocain.

What, you thought I was ever going to forget?