For Good Teeth: Wisdom Teeth Edition
I have never suffered from the pain of wisdom teeth.
Are wisdom teeth really something that should be pulled? And why do they grow in after you're 20? Is it erotic? I heard some people have four pulled in a single day. Is it erotic after all?
Assuming it is erotic, then why, when I have been a die-hard eroticist—a 'die-hard' girl—since I was old enough to know better, did I never grow any painful wisdom teeth? Thinking about it, I suppose it might be the 'blessing of the wisdom teeth,' or perhaps it is because I have lived my life strictly following my mother's teaching to 'take care of your teeth above all else.' Take care of your teeth above all else, or as I call it,
#ToothToss
.
Just as I learn about things that pique my curiosity and have never complained about other people's beliefs, the absolute necessity of “the basics” like “for good teeth” was always there. Just as one would assert the right to survive at all costs if their life were threatened, I would brush my teeth at all costs after eating a snack, and if they started to “wobble,” I would go to the dentist to have them pulled. If those rights were infringed upon, I wouldn't just go 'Huh?' or 'Sigh,' I would be absolutely, genuinely furious.
It might be presumptuous for a 'man' like me to say I can 'empathize' with the complexes of mother-daughter relationships, but what I think of as 'the equivalent for me' is not cooking, sewing, singing, dancing, appearance, or manners, but... pure white is too much... Kondo is a match... it is 'good teeth' that are healthy, nicely white, and straight. My mother's teaching was absolute.
#ForGoodTeeth
By the way, the attempt to align vowels and consonants nicely like 'too much,' 'match,' and 'straight' (mattsugu) above is called writing with an awareness of rhyme. It can give people a pleasant experience, so even if the writing expression goes off on a tangent asking 'what are you talking about?', this is my playfulness.
As such, whenever I received a notice for a regular checkup, I would go to the dentist to have the doctor check for cavities and apply fluoride. When the person in charge of 'flossing' was a young lady, I felt like the spaces between my teeth became tighter than usual.
Did my teeth actually move closer together? Is that something that can happen during a growth spurt? Not at all. This is a metaphorical expression of my inner tension at the thought of 'a young lady sticking her hands into my mouth.' When a metaphorical expression is understood, people feel a sense of pleasure, as if to say, 'I have just experienced something truly literary.' This, too, is my playfulness.
When the cavity check, which sounded like 'C3PO okay, R2D2 okay,' was finished, I was praised every time, and... although I hear that there are 'susceptible' and 'resistant' teeth due to genetics... not a single one of my 'adult teeth' has been eaten away by cavities.
In Japanese, there is a word game called a pun, and when you continue to use the same sounds with different meanings, people can feel a sense of pleasure, thinking, 'Oh, that's rather amusing.' This, too, is my playfulness.
The reason I have tried so hard to make you, the reader, feel pleasant until now is because today, I am going to take an even more self-centered approach to my storytelling and talk about something truly unpleasant.
I suffered a major injury, and the entire lower right half, from the center to the back teeth, was knocked sideways. 'That's a shock,' 'Can you chew?' It is a shock. I cannot. So what did I do? I had a very, very serious surgery. They attached my broken jaw with plates, forced my knocked-over teeth into place with wires, fixed me in a mask like Dr. Lecter's, and fed me nutrients from my nose to my stomach.
In short, the alignment of 'good teeth' that I had cherished since I was old enough to know better became a total mess at the age of 26. I couldn't even keep my mother's only teaching: 'Take care of your teeth above all else.'
When I woke up in the ICU, my reaction to what I saw in the hand mirror was 'Huh?' and 'Sigh.'
My 'tooth toss' fell apart in a flash. I had spent over twenty years of every meal being careful for the sake of good teeth, and it was gone in an instant. It felt like, 'You can live without good teeth, welcome to your real life.'
By the time the treatment was over, my muscles had weakened, and everything I tried to chew felt as hard as a rock. It took me 30 minutes to finish eating 60g of grilled salmon.
I often hear people on gourmet shows say things like, 'I don't even need teeth!' or 'I'm not even using my jaw!' but I realized that such things are lies.
Even if you lose your teeth and can't use your jaw, you can still live by getting nutrients through your nose. 'Take care of your teeth above all else'—that's not true at all. If I had 'invested' in other things instead, I might have become a more enriched adult.
A few years after that realization, the wires and Dr. Lecter's mask are gone, my teeth are aligned, and I feel like I could eat a whole salmon—not just 60g, but like a bear—and I've filled my fridge with hometown tax return gifts, happily devouring grilled fish day after day. It's so delicious.
During a recent dinner like that, I heard her say she was "happy," and when I looked up, she said something like, "I'm so glad the day has come when you can enjoy grilled fish this much," right from the bottom of her heart. It seems she's happy to be able to share this "delicious" moment.
I was happy, and it was delicious. I spent 30 minutes eating a small opened horse mackerel. Why did I go out of my way to spend 30 minutes eating it? I don't think I need to write a footnote for that. It felt wonderful.
Without teeth or a jaw, you can't chew easily, and no matter how much hospitality you receive or how delicious the food is, it won't feel wonderful at all. In my case, I'm really glad I was able to get my teeth back after losing them, but this world is full of things where "it's too late once you've lost them."
You take them for granted, but one day they might just vanish into thin air. Maybe it would be more useful to invest in other things. But there are so many wonderful experiences you can only have because you cherish each and every tooth. You can't have them without good teeth. That's why you should live with care for your teeth. You should do your best for a wonderful daily life.
And just as I wrapped it up nicely, I realized something belatedly.
The submission period for "For Good Teeth" is already over, apparently.
BUT! I'm not that reasonable, I want people to read this, and above all, I want to feel wonderful myself, and there are still footnotes I haven't finished writing. Looking back, I had nothing to do with wisdom tooth extraction back in the day. Still making my parents cry at this age, how pathetic. Accused of cheating when I haven't done anything, or rather, on this salary, I'm just consuming gals on Instagram. Rampant exploitation by big corporations in the streets. A madam secretly eating quiche by the window, and when I walk home with a side-glance, the smell of grilled fish is intense. Is that it? The passion from those days when I stood in line? I want more, don't I? Household income. Isn't it too early to settle down? Saying that ruins everything. Swallowing all those "hows" and "whys," and after a "delicious" meal, spraying Resesh together.
Exploding with playfulness makes me feel wonderful, but if you get too absorbed, you might forget who it's for or even the submission deadline, so you should be careful. When something so rugged overflows, should you pull it out, or should you stick to your own style? If you pose such a slightly metaphorical question, I think everyone might have their own answer.
Oh, my wisdom tooth is growing in 🤗
So this is my "wisdom tooth" that grew in late... it wasn't erotic at all, haha... I want to give even a little meaning to missing the contest, so please let me add this tag. Konishi-san, please collect this as the last one of the year.