May

28

Sweet Tooth

Filed Under Consumer Concerns, Food & Drinks, Health | 8 Comments

I confess: I’m a chocolate junkie; an incurable sweet tooth. And being a resident of chocolate country Switzerland doesn’t really help me break the bondage of this addiction. (Switzerland reportedly has an annual consumption of around 11 kg. of chocolate per head, making it the highest in the world.)

Back then, I was a frequent visitor at the dentist’s. But instead of saying no to chocolates, I succumbed more to cocoa-oriented temptations. And so, I suffered the consequences. I couldn’t count anymore how many tooth extractions I had as a child or how many dental fillings were done in my mouth. And yes, I currently have three crowns to my credit, prompting my husband to call me a “queen.”

This disturbing pattern seems to be taking shape here in my host country where I consume chocolates like a greedy hyena. Once more, the dentist beckons.

Last Tuesday night, another molar filling — a big one — became kaputt, leaving my back molar totally exposed to bad food elements. I was so devastated that I even had a bad, bad dental dream about it. I dreamt that all my teeth were rotting and suddenly fell out. When I looked at myself in the mirror, all I saw were two mini dental bristles serving as my front teeth. Shocking! Good thing I woke up before I saw more terrible stuff.

Seeing my human suffering, my husband took immediate action and tried his best to find me a dentist who would be willing to repair my troubled molar pronto. (Most dental appoinments in Switzerland are made in advance, and dentists are not readily available for impromptu patients.)

Fortunately, another Swiss dentist (Dentist B) took me in as an emergency case even on such short notice. He was 100 times better than the other dentist (Dentist A) with whom I just had a ‘bloody’ experience. (Please refer to a previous post titled “Dental Tourism.”)

In his very sanitized clinic, Dentist B extracted my decaying molar — ugh — after giving me his dental verdict in perfect English: “This tooth is lost!” He didn’t recommend a root canal operation since “it’s a very expensive procedure.”

During the tooth extraction, I didn’t feel any pain; his hands were very light. So we decided to set two more appointments with Dentist B for my prophylaxis and for putting the permanent filling in my other problem molar.

Meanwhile, we cancelled our follow-up appointment with Dentist A. We feel he doesn’t really have a real calling to be a dentist. Maybe, he should have been a car mechanic instead.

May

28

Dental Facts

Filed Under General, Health, Humor | 1 Comment

Allow me to share with you here some fun dental facts culled from a forwarded e-mail sent by my dentist in the Philippines:

Dentistry: Interesting?

I bet you didn’t think it was possible, but here are a few dental fun facts that may find you saying, “Wow, I didn’t know that!”

* Each person’s set of teeth is unique — much like their fingerprints — even in identical twins.

* Some cheeses are have been found to protect teeth from decay.

* The Mexican version of the Tooth Fairy is known as the Tooth Mouse, which takes the tooth and leaves treasures in its place.

* If you’re right handed, you will chew your food on your right side. If you’re left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.

* The major causes of tooth loss in people under age 35 are sports, accidents and fights.

* George Washington’s dentures were made from walrus, hippopotamus, and cows’ teeth, as well as elephant tusks.

* The most valuable tooth was one a nobleman purchased — belonging to the famous scientists Isaac Newton — for $4,560. It was set in a ring.

* In 200 AD, the Romans used a mixture of bones, eggshells, oyster shells and honey to clean their teeth.

* Queen Elizabeth I’s teeth were noticeably discolored. A German traveler, Paul Henter, speculated that the discoloration was due to the Queen’s excessive consumption of sugar, making the first recorded association between sugar and tooth decay.

* The second most common disease in the United States is tooth decay. The first is the common cold.

Animal Chompers

* Ants can lift an object up to fifty times their body-weight and carry it over their heads. They don’t do this with their feet, but with their mouths.

* Crocodiles don’t clean their own teeth; they let a plover (little bird) pick their teeth for scraps of leftover food.

* The largest toothed mammal in the world is the sperm whale. A whale’s lower jaw, measuring 16 feet and 5 inches long, is exhibited in the British Museum of Natural History in London. The whale it belonged to reportedly measured 84 feet in length.

* A snail can have about 25,000 teeth (on its tongue).

* Horses teeth are extremely long and grow continually. They wear down, change shape and become discolored as they grow, so we can really tell a horse’s age by looking at his teeth.

* A shark’s teeth are literally as hard as steel.

May

24

Yoda Talk

Filed Under Family & Friends, Films, General, Humor | 8 Comments



YODA: Should fix his syntax.

Every chance we get, my husband and I would hie off to the cinema on Mondays when movie ticket prices are reduced from CHF15.00 (USD12.19) to CHF12.00 (USD9.75) per person.

Last night, we watched “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” on a whim, although my husband and I are not really “Star Wars” fans. We were just curious how Episode III would ‘complete’ the six-part movie series. And yes, we wanted to break the routine of work and study.

It was nice to watch Episode III in English with German and French sub-titles. But in other cinema houses in bilingual Biel (German and French), the George Lucas film was dubbed in German with only French sub-titles. Meanwhile, the film is shown only in French in the French-speaking regions of Switzerland like Neuchatel.

One thing that caught our interest was how Yoda, the Jedi Master, talked; his language syntax was quite unique. But never did we expect that we would talk like him soon after the film screening:

HUBBY: “Go home, we must. Find the covered parking lot, we go.”
JAYRED: “Know where our car is, do you? Hmm…”
HUBBY: “I am sure not.”

***

JAYRED: “Sleep now, we must.”
HUBBY: “Brush my teeth, I should.”
JAYRED: “Do what you need to do, you will.”

***

This morning, while still half-asleep, I talked like Yoda once more.

JAYRED: “Honey, mashed potato, you cook. And bottle of water, you bring. Sleep, I must. Very tired, I am.”

My husband obliged.

HUBBY: :”OK, baon (packed lunch), I prepare.”

Blame it on the “Jedi force” to mess up our syntax. Time to snap out of Yoda talk.

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