The Tale of the "Hanging Tooth"

When it comes to things, events, moments related to my childhood, i am as nostalgic as it can get! And, very often i run into incidents that keep reminding me of my childhood.

Being a child- WOW! :) That was clearly a no-hassles period! And to see, i used to feel stressed even then. Funny, no?!

Last week, i dreamt of "tooth decay". Seriously! in the dream, i was trying to pull out one of my teeth, which had decayed and already a bit loose from the gums. I woke up suddenly, but, with the images from the "milk-tooth" phase of my childhood; how at one point of time, my mouth had more vacant spaces than actual teeth. No, i am not talking about the teething phase here.

Every loose teeth brought with it, immense pain and more than immense fear- Pain brought by my insistence to keep on hanging with the hanging tooth, and fear of how much pain it would again cause when it actually left my gums! I would try to bear with the 'hanging tooth' until it voluntarily detached itself from his beloved gums. All this time, it would hamper my day-to-day activities. The 'hanging tooth' would 'half-roam' inside my mouth; made eating an arduous affair; and would bleed untimely, causing me to stop all activities that i would be indulged in.

My elder brother (who is similar to all brothers in ruthlessness, scare tactics and pure cruelty) was of the opinion that one should not wait for the 'voluntary fall' of the tooth, but tear it out from its roots as and when it started 'hanging', thereby preventing this extended duration of pain and inactivity. Haah.. tearing the loose tooth would cause tons of more pain!! No?!


One day as i was struggling with my loose tooth and moaning as usual about how it disturbed me, my brother asked if he could examine 'the' tooth? I, as you can understand, did NOT Trust Him! He knew this too.
Moments later, he came to me again. This time he had brought some solution with him. It was white and green. He declared that if that solution was applied to the gums, it would immediately relieve me of all pain. Thank you! I was suddenly more than ready to apply that solution on the gums. He offered to apply it. Obviously, he had a better view of the problematic tooth, so i accepted the generous offer. He was so caring. He applied the solution and had my 'hanging tooth' held between his fingers too!

He had accomplished the task of tearing out the loose tooth and was so happy. Cruel! And, that solution was his invention- a mixture of chalk powder and scraps of "Margo" soap!!