Dental demolition, reconstruction and the tooth fairy

I had the best of intentions when I kept a slack tooth in situ for over two and a half years. I had sort of become quite attached to it - or it to me! However, it came to the point when it almost fell out by itself.

Sara was most amused and reassured me saying, “If you put your wobbly tooth under your pillow before you go to sleep, the tooth fairy will come and you’ll get a shiny silver coin in the morning.” How could I resist making a dental appointment? The tooth fairy must have visited ever so many children since I last received my shiny (? bronze) coin!

So the date was set for last Friday evening and Ivonete and I arrived ten minutes early for the appointment. I became more and more nervous as the minute hand approached the evil hour - then passed. My mind meandered silently along the very narrow track that leads to that elastic tightrope of nightmare experiences. “…….Like a lamb to the slaughter,”…. “I hope I survive,” ……… “just like the unsuspecting dog pup at the vet wagging its tail as it looks into the eyes of ‘the castrator.”……... “No, this is a dentist – not a vet,” I reassured myself. “Concentrate on something else.”

The blank grey walls did not inspire me at all. Not that it was necessary. The dentist arrived clumping heavily up concrete steps to greet us. He was a small guy, informally dressed, gentle in nature and quietly reassuring. He excused himself saying, “I’ve got the dead cow bone granules in this box”. “Ideally, my mouth ought to contain neither human nor dead cow bone granules,” I thought to myself. In for a penny…. in for a pound!

In the next room the metal implements of torture clanked onto metal trays. The rhythmic sound was only broken by light footsteps skipping up the steps. Their owner welcomed us equally charmingly and she breezed into the surgery to embrace her brother warmly. This was to be a two dentist operation. I did not know if I should be reassured by this or worry a bit more.

The operation lasted one and a half hours of swabbing, injections, unbearable operating lights, tooth-extracting, blood-letting, tube-sucking, gum-cutting, bone-scraping, tube-sucking, acid-spraying, tube-sucking, blood-spitting, water-swallowing, blood-sucking, acid-squirting, bone-packing, back-sweating, gum-stitching, palate-prodding…..... Followed by the usual hand-shaking, prescription writing and thanking and back-slapping….

The good news is the generous discount the dentist gave me for pulling only two of the three teeth planned for extraction. The bad news is I forgot to lift the extracted teeth. So Sara, I really have missed out on that ‘tooth fairy experience’, haven't I!