Sweet tooth...

When I was young oral care is the last thing on my mind. I mean my mom had to think of so many ways to ensure that I have good well aligned teeth.

I vividly remember 3 particular incidents.

The first 2 had to do with my baby teeth as they were slowly being replaced by permanent teeth but I was really nervous about it.

In fact even though this baby teeth could be swaying and I can rock and twist them a bit, I will not pull it out nor let anyone near it.

So my ever wise mom will offer me sugar cane to eat. Having a sweet tooth, I am a sucker for anything sweet. So before long, out comes the tooth, nailed in between the sugar cane.

Then there was this particular front baby tooth of my which refused to budge even though my mom could see the tip of a new tooth coming out.

Sugar cane did not work this time, so she schemed with my uncle and a few other cohorts (which included my aunt and a few others) and when I was walking by the corridor of my grandparents house minding my own business, 2 pairs of strong arms will suddenly grabbed me and in a second I would be on the floor pinned down by these hooligans and my mom with a handkerchief will grabbed and pull out this baby tooth.

It was a swift and successful operation for their record as I was too shock to register any reaction.

My last memorable incident was my trip to the dentist in Ampang Park. The dentist was japanese. I could remember him clearly because my parents made sure I know that I was getting the best dentist and not just any average dentist cos he's japanese.

But before reaching there, we will make a detour to a pastry shop on the ground floor, my personal favorite.

It was a japanese sweet snack in shape of fish. Now with the help of google I managed to find it's name of these long years of not knowing. It's (ta-da-da-da...)

Taiyaki (たい焼き)
A snack in the shape of a sea bream. (A sea bream is a freshwater fish in Japan.) A mold is made in the likeness of a sea bream, and batter is baked in the mold. Then the sweet bean paste is used as filling.

I wonder why no one sells this snack anymore... Perhaps the price of red bean had gone up drastically.

Anyway my mom will use this as bait to get me onto the dentist's chair but I wont sit there without a fight. And by fight I really mean fight. I'll be screaming, kicking and swinging my arms so much that the poor japanese dentist had to call in reinforcements.

So picture me being pinned down by 6 people including my mom and dad and the dentist extracting the tooth hastily and with much force and determination.

After putting on such a fight, my dad will then have to carry me in his arm and I will be slumped over his shoulder, looking ever so betrayed and forlorn with a gauze in my mouth to stop the bleeding and carrying my precious taiyaki.

The cause of my downfall... blame it on my sweet tooth.

But it's funny how I cant remember any of my other doctors but I can remember all the dentists I went to. Maybe it's cos going to the dentist has and always will be traumatic. Even right now, I am dragging my feet to have my belated annual dental checkup. Sigh... where is the taiyaki shop when you need one...