Loosing My Teeth

Odd as it may seem, I have become accustomed to seeing myself as an attractive person.  Since my three front teeth on the lower jaw were pulled last Monday I have been recalibrating this image.  The dentist gave me a partial plate with two teeth on it, which looks much better when I have it in, but I cannot eat, sleep, or talk extensively with it.  It also hurts.  When I take the plate out I have this gaping hole in my mouth which enhances my image as a hag.

I asked the dentist if I could have the teeth which he pulled.  He asked "what for?"  I answered "for my medicine bag." But I ended up leaving the dentist without my teeth.  I wish I had remembered.

Losing body parts is a shock.  I think about how I used to be able to bite an apple, or a bagel, and am aware that this will never happen again in the same way.

My three teeth almost made 63 years with me.  A dentist told me in 1967, when I was 26, that I should have one of them removed since my mouth was too small.  I held on for another 36 years, but I lost three instead of one in the end.  Another example of how actions or inactions in our youth affect us in our dotage.

It is true that my smile looks better now when I have my partial plate in, as long as I just smile and do not try to talk.  And besides, little children are always fascinated to see someone take out and put in false teeth.