The denture that made me proud just three years ago had possibly made me its slave.
It required to clean it thoroughly day by day night by night before bed, after every food (not just lunch and dinner alone, but even with a sip of coffee or tea in my friend's house.)
That day I remembered when I was at the Seventh Heaven of Joy when
Dr.Shankar Guhan placed inside my mouth a wonderful denture which made me look at the mirror every moment to be hilarious.
if you have not seen this video ere this,
See then my joy by clicking this.
The situation after a couple of years was totally different.
A couple of years later, a sort of vague pain was felt from nowhere inside the lower gums.
A visit to denture then also followed by a digital x ray resulted in no big hidden threat except that I forgot to remember what was obvious.
I should be cleaning my teeth every hour, or at least after every bite .
Last couple of days, I had a similar feeling of vague pain.
I dialled his clinic landline.
Came the reply, like a ball hit on the wall.
"Doctor is on the way. you may come."
I held the cell and rushed to the Saligram clinic at Chakrapany Street, just opposite to Avichi School, Saligram.
As I entered, I could see a Lady Doctor who greeted and welcomed with a smile.
Welcome, Sir. Please sit here. We will call you soon.
Not many minutes passed, as
Dr.Shankar Guhan M.D.S..appeared before me.
You know when you are in pain, your Doctor is your God.
Doctor smiled at me invitingly.
I found from his body language that he was richer this time.
Yes. in human relations
Sooner the customary enquiries were over, he examined my denture. It was something similar to a bamboo bridge . Have u seen LAKSHMAN JOOLA ? This one contained many crowns and joints , the so-called bridges.
Is it that a crown is down ? Flashed those words of Shakespeare:
"My crown is in my heart, not on my head; not decked with diamonds and Indian stones, nor to be seen: my crown is called content, a crown it is that seldom kings enjoy." (King Henry VI' (Act III, Scene I):
Oh ! No. This crown is in my mouth not at my heart.
THESE BRIDGES AND CROWNS OF A DENTURE ARE DIFFERENT. WHAT ARE THEY? YOU MAY SEE THIS, IF U R ADVISED U NEED A DENTURE To know further, Click this .
I was lying on the dentist sofa cum bed with a heart rate a little over 160. On the table alongside, there were a few instruments usually used by dentists all over the world.
Now, my mouth was wide open . The little instruments ( are they knives or scissors ?)
he put inside my mouth I sent a message in FACE BOOK to Lord Shanmugha to reveal whether they are sterilized. They must have been. As they are in Dr.Guhan's clinic.
Oh !
It appeared as if many soldiers with revolvers stretched stepped to marching tune here and there inside my mouth . The sounds echoed the film indeed The Bridge on the River Kwai. None could have missed that film, I suppose. If you indeed miss it,
click here and see, as you read further.
As I continued wandering, carefully did he pierce inside the archives of those bridges,crowns to cave inside those historic remnants of those original teeth lying and possibly hiding underneath , by throwing flashes of beaming light.
I do not find anything, he said.
"You mean "nothing abnormal ?..."" I intercepted.
yes.he said. I heaved a sigh of relief.
He continued though.
" You need a cleaning now. After a lapse of a fortnight, you will have a full x ray of entire denture."
" Is that the X Ray where the camera goes inside my mouth ?" I asked him peevishly.
He assured.that there was nothing to be afraid. You had it already. Is it not ? He waited for a reply.
I did not want to share my inner feelings of fear at this stage of repeated x rays .
I knew that there is no risk of any procedure being done at my age seventy two.
Ironically, and factually too, my bones, my teeth, my brain had better luck in all these years of my existence of being photographed several times. My face did never have that luck.
All on a sudden, in one corner of my right brain came flashing the words of BABA
.
WHY FEAR WHEN I AM HERE.
YES. I mustered enough courage, to ask him.
"Ok. But what shall I do now? " .
He called his team mate, the lady doctor.
Dr.Krishnapriya will clean your teeth now. You may go the adjacent cabin.
Last time, when I had been at this clinic, this dentist doctor was not there.
I sneaked into the other cabin. It was sultry. Not enough cooling. The evening was still reeling around 35 Degrees celsius.
I appeared sweating a little. But sought to reassure myself that definitely this was due to factors of humidity rather than a symptom of a myocardial infarction.
Bosses are more comfortable, I thought.
Dr.Krishnapriya BDS spoke soothingly enough to calm me down.
Narrated what she was going to do.
Just a vibrator. No grinding.
Occasionally a few drops of blood may came. But do not worry. It is nothing.
she said.
I knew that she knew that it was my blood .
Now, a plastic overcoat on my chest. A cup full of water . The look of it was uninviting, though.
I lied on that sofa cum bed. and
I relaxed.
This septuagenarian these days needs to be reassured now and then that he was in safe hands.
Possibly my denture was.
The procedure halted now and then., only for the Doctor to enquire " Are you comfortable ?"
After a few minutes, she said, the upper is over.\
Now, I thought it is the turn of Thirugnana Sambhandar.
Now the lower part , she continued.
Repeated gargling. Getting up to spit the gargled water was not so interesting.
She was now putting some brown substance below the teeth (!) and above the gums. Not tasty, but not unbearable. Is it to whiten my teeth ? I quipped. She said , "No. Just ..." She did not complete. I could infer it could be some sort of an anaesthetic gel or some sort of a bonder as quickfix.
'"Dr.Why not an equipment to drain gargled water by a reverse force process ? " I thought of enquiring but stopped short of it.
Actually, most of the day today routine job , for example, taking bath, could well be taken over by some sort of a robot. For example, one should be going inside some sort of a washing machine and sitting comfortably listening to Britney Spears or SPB , as waters swirl around you and in just three to five minutes, you feel you have a bath.
Possibly, some day, a chinese or a japanese or even a korean company would do that. The Indian Entrepreneur would immediately copy it and sell it .
"Gargle now enough:, she said. "It is over. "
I did and rubbed my face. I prayed to God . Let the water be pure H2O.
"It is over. " she said. Her face revealed her tiredness, no words she spoke though.
Any pain killer necessary ? Madam ? I asked her. All sorts of paracetamol, diclofen, proxyvon, tramadol, brufen came to my mind as I wanted indeed to say that brufen would not suit me.
But there was no need for that query, as she asserted
"No "
Can I go and take food at my house straightaway ?
Yes. she continued, as she prescribed
a paste, a gum tone and a mouth wash.
Thank U Dr...... as I stretched my sentence,
krishnapriya, she said
I
always used to feel that these dental surgeons should be having a lot of physical stamina to always having their heads down , their eyes and hands coalescing enough to perform a well thought out surgery, like a root canal or extracting the wisdom tooth.
Long ago, my good friend a general Surgeon (now in Michigan, USA) used to tell me:
A surgeon should be having fingers as silky as rose petals, and a heart as strong as that of a lion.
Well, I thought it applied to dentists as well. You need all the strength and stamina to pull a tooth which is infected but equally strong.
Now, it is time for me to leave.
Oh ! I forgot I had to pay.
For no visible reason,
I thought that Doctor is very close to me. Well . Let me wait.
Fees ? Dr .I asked her.
Give it to the receptionist. She said.
The receptionist was busy in preparing the next patient.
Charges for teeth cleaning are ten hundred, she said, continuing,
But for you it is only six hundred.
Oh ! That is nice.
In deserts, they say, huge loads are put on the backs of camels, and in order they get up, they say they cajole them by taking away a few bundles from the load.
I checked up my purse.
Luckily, it contained one more.hundred rupee note. enough to get me back home.
After all, money is there only to spend.
You now see the DENTAL CLEANING procedure here.
