Thursday, December 17, 2009

I want the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth.....



Okay, on a family vacation long long ago, in a land located between here and Olallie Lake, we spent a number of hours following a vehicle whose license plate read: Tooth. It belonged to a dentist, who was also a family friend. We spent a great vacation together. The huckleberry cobbler was especially memorable. The other memorable thing was chanting, over and over, until my parents were about ready to kill us:

I want the tooth,
The whole tooth,
And nothing but the tooth.

I am sure that parents out there will be surprised to find out that you can chant this for hours at a time, and as a preteen think it is hilarious. Younger siblings will join in because it is cool to be as funny as your older siblings.

So, during my root canal, which lasted for an extra hour and a half, making it over 3 hours, I guess it is only fair that I would start having this chant in my head. At first I thought it was funny and might help me stay calm. (I REALLY do not like having my teeth worked on, although I love having my teeth cleaned.) So, in a form of cosmic justice, I had the chant stuck in my head for at least an hour, and it has come back every time that my tooth hurts. Since they had to take out about twice as much of the tooth as they had expected, it hurts quite a bit. I guess it will get better once the infection is all cleared up. I am hoping that will be soon.

So, to Kuhn and all other dentists who have ever inspired silly chants, this is the whole tooth, "It hurts!"

1 comment:

Kathy Haynie said...

Great memories. Sorry you're hurting, but hopefully this experience, too, will be a memory before long.