A Toffee and a Broken Tooth

We paid a visit to our neighbour, Mdm.T. this afternoon. Mdm.T. lost her husband early last year and has since been living alone. Of her two children, one is working overseas while the other lives with his wife in an apartment.

Mdm.T. was very happy to see us and we sat and talked on a host of subjects. Her pet subject was her dog, a 14 year old. I'm not sure what breed he is but we were told he had gone blind some time ago. However he still manages to find his way around the house and makes sure he gets his favourite food. He also refuses to sleep anywhere except in an airconditioned room! He is indeed far more fortunate than some poor people I know!

Mdm. T. served us lychee jelly from her fridge. Then she remembered my mum likes toffees and that was when the trouble started. The toffees were wrapped in shining blue paper and came direct from England, a gift from a friend. They were irresistible. Although a little voice inside told me to bring them home to eat, I ignored it and popped one into my mouth. It was delicious and I rolled it around, savouring the creamy texture. Then, horror of horrors, I felt a little "tremor" in my gum. I ran my tongue over the spot and found that the toffee had loosened a partially broken tooth which I had not had extracted for some years (due to my fear of pain). Part of the tooth was shaking like a leaf. The damage was done. I didn't tell my host what had happened and after a bit more conversation, we left.

The moment I got home, I took a look in the mirror and surveyed the damage. Well, the tooth had to come out and very reluctantly, I phoned the dentist to make an appointment.

My lady dentist said I had three options. (1) Extract only the shaky part and leave the rest in the gum (2) Extract both the shaky part and the rest in the gum (3) Extract the shaky part and remove the rest on a separate visit. Guess which option I chose? No.1 of course.

It was over in less than ten minutes - very quick and painless. I left the dental clinic quite happy. As I mulled over the incident later, I had a bittersweet thought. A toffee had cost me RM30, including some stress and anxiety. Why are toffees so mean?