Validate

validate
verb, transitive. To make legally valid; to grant official sanction to by marking; to confirm the validity of an election; to declare a person elected; to verify, substantiate or confirm.

Her experiment had only taken a couple of weeks to convince Leah that she was onto something. Although she hated to admit it, flossing her teeth every day was one of the best habits she had ever acquired, especially now that she was well into her middle years. By the time she was 40, her joints had begun to ache, especially in cold weather. Daily flossing reduced that discomfort, and now that she was flossing twice a day--after breakfast and before bedtime--the effect was even more pronounced.

She sat in the chair in her dentist’s examination room and smiled to herself. Keeping her teeth cleaner herself made the hygienist’s cleanings quick and almost pain-free. She was certain that the dentist would pronounce her good to go for the next six months, with no further work needed.

“Hi, Leah,” Dr. Roberts said as he entered at her back. “How are you doing?”

“Very well, Dr. Roberts,” she replied, “how about you?”

“Can’t complain.” He sat and pulled her chart close. A minute or two passed as he read the hygienist’s notes. “Open, please,” he told Leah as he picked up an instrument.

She closed her eyes and opened her mouth into an extended yawn. She could feel gentle poking and pressure as Dr. Roberts checked a few places among her teeth and on her gums. It wasn’t long before he sat up and told her that she appeared to need no more work today or in the near future.

As he moved the chair so that Leah was sitting up again, she announced her discovery: “I have learned something during the past few weeks, Dr. Roberts. I found out that the cleaner I keep my teeth, the less joint pain I have to put up with.”

To her astonishment, he sat up even straighter and gasped. “I’ve noticed that myself,” he told her, “but you’re the first patient I’ve had validate that!”

As Leah stood up and gathered her belongings, she suggested, “You could do a survey and write a paper.” She was rewarded when he smiled and nodded.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.