68 YEARS LATER, FORMER BOYFRIEND GETS KISSING RIGHT - NO GARLIC.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

Usually, when people read the obituary page in a newspaper, it's to say goodbye - not hello.

Usually.

Teri Weiner was 7 in 1928 when she kissed Irving Goldman, the kid living next door to her on Bixel Street in L.A. It was her first kiss, and she held her nose because Irving had this thing for garlic.

She kissed him again Tuesday night in Woodland Hills - at age 75.

``I held my nose again, but I needn't have,'' Teri said, laughing. ``Irving's allergic to garlic now.''

It's been 68 years between kisses for these two - 68 years of going on with their separate lives after high school, marrying other people, raising kids, pursuing careers, and now enjoying retirement with their spouses.

They probably would never have met again had Teri's brother, Joe, not called her up a few weeks ago, and said, ``Hey, wasn't the kid who used to live next door to us on Bixel Street named Irving Goldman?''

``Yeah, why?'' Teri asked.

``Because there's an Irving Goldman in the obits this morning,'' Joe said.

Teri hung up the phone and thought of garlic.

Her Irving Goldman - her first boyfriend - always rubbed fresh garlic around the edges of his rye bread.

``When he kissed me, he always smelled, but what did I care?'' Teri said Tuesday. ``I was getting kissed.''

She had to find out if that was her Irving Goldman in the obits. ``I called around to every Goldman in the Valley phone book, but couldn't find him. Then, I called the Los Angeles operator and told her I was looking for an old friend who may have passed away.

``She gave me all the Goldmans in L.A. He was the last one.''

Irving's wife, Florence Goldman, answered the phone. ``I'm looking for my very first boyfriend, who went to Central Junior High (and) Belmont High - and loved garlic,'' Teri said.

An understanding woman, Florence said, ``Yep, that sounds like my husband.'' Five minutes later, Irving called Teri back and, well, the rest is the stuff reunions are made of.

Teri and her husband, Sammy, had dinner Tuesday night with Irving and Florence. Neither of their spouses minded when Irving gave Teri another kiss - and she held her nose.

James Pasternak, a Chatsworth dentist, returned recently from a three-day Dental Boot Kamp in Texas, where drillers from all over the country got together to raise their low self-esteem and to find ways to make fewer people dread that trip to the dentist's office.

``We (dentists) have among the lowest self-esteem of any profession,'' Pasternak said. ``We're always looking down at our feet and mumbling.''

At Dental Boot Kamp, the dentists learned to hold their heads high like Amway salesmen.

``It was a little weird, but we were told to imagine there was a 10 on our foreheads, and then we'd all say in unison, `We will never allow another person to make us think less of ourselves,' '' Pasternak said.

The key to better dentist-patient relationships is communication - ``telling the patient everything - what's good and what's bad - about what's going on inside their mouths,'' Pasternak said.

As for dentists' feelings about themselves, it's been a decade since the American Dental Association asked the $64,000 question - and got an answer it didn't want to hear.

``If you had the opportunity to do it all over again, would you become a dentist?'' the questionnaire asked.

``Sixty-seven percent said `No,' '' Pasternak said. ``It's not a happy thought. That was 10 years ago, and I think the ADA may be afraid to take the poll again.''

He plans to return to Dental Boot Kamp in November with his support staff.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick will be at American Legion Post 826 on Saturday night in Woodland Hills for the annual Law and Order Dinner.

The post will honor Mark Gozawa, a Los Angeles city fire captain; firefighter/paramedic David Monette; Officer Kris Owen of the LAPD's West Valley Division; and California Highway Patrol Sgt. Dave Rouse.

A limited number of dinner tickets are still available at $10 each. The post is at 5320 Fallbrook Avenue, and social hour will begin at 6 p.m.

MEMO: Dennis McCarthy's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.