Salam, kind people of the world, and good evening.

Last Thursday, I had a final exam paper (it was ECO415, and went better than expected. Now stop asking) in the morning. Since I already taken the day off, I thought that afternoon I might as well go to the dentist.

You see, I’ve never been concerned about getting checked out, partly because I -think- I’m doing alright, but mostly cos I’m afraid they might stick a needle in my gums. Many months ago, however, I woke up one afternoon to the sound of a light “crunch”, and when I took it out of my mouth, it was some bits of enamel.

Turns out, I accidentally chipped off a part of my right molar.

With my -own- teeth!

It wasn’t painful, but you get this void if you run your tongue over it. It’s not that big, but bits of food would get stuck, and after each meal, I grew accustomed to prying out any that did. Worst case scenario, when I eat something extra sweet, it stings.

So yeah post exam (naturally, of course, not due to the constant nagging of mother) I went to the Dentistry Faculty at UiTM. They checked me up, told me I need one filling, and decided to do some scaling as well.

All is well (best part is, no needle!), and the void is gone. Feels a bit weird the first few days; you tend to want to pry it out like the bits of food before. But I got over it, only that one I’m still getting used to is that

it’s still a prosthesis.

No matter what, it just feels so weird living with a foreign matter in your body part that is helping that part function as it was supposed to. It’s like that useful-at-times-but-mostly-annoying
type of salesperson that follows you around.

“Yes, how may I help you?”
“Is there something that I can do?”
“Do you require assistance?”

Calm down, dammit! I got this.

Looking back though, I wouldn’t say I’m glad to get the filling, but at least it’ll prevent the damage from getting any worse. I’m sure with any other prosthesis, be it an arm, a leg, or a tooth filling, it will never replace the original. We just have to acknowledge that eventually, like the salesperson, we do need some sort of assistance.

As of now, I am, and will always be,

incomplete.

ws