Dentures of the Century

To those who cannot afford implants, lost teeth are happily replaced by dentures. Thank God for those inventions!  You may have prayed aloud or silently.

Before the advent of implants or crowns or any present day modern technological or non-technological solutions to the much regretted loss, everyone rich or poor, whatever status they may be, resort to the only solution available- the dentures(fixed or removable or partially removable) Of course there was and still is the difference of where you may source them from- a reknown  dentist or just from the public hospital or even from a quack( I have seen one operating his enterprise at the market place!) For the time being even in the richest country of the world , we have people opting for dentures to be fixed and not all are running to the prosthodontists to have implants. Implants are still very expensive for many, and some people are taking into consideration the fear of sitting at the dentist’s chair for hours and later going for more visits. Someone has just questioned why one should pay for such an ordeal. Some people prefer to forgo the asthetic value and the pride of having close to tnatural functioning teeth.

At the rate of extreme sports growing, many teenagers have lost teeth that are naturally irreplaceable
long before they reach their twenties. Besides that, the diet of youngsters have changed and many lost permanent teeth even during their teenage years. Some of them are already experiencing the discomfort of using dentures, something their elders are going through. This makes them feel ‘old’ in a certain sort of way especially when they may be the brunt of their peers’ jokes. It could be a cause of the drop in self-confidence that may affect in their development.To that effect many people may dream to be able in their later lives to afford implants. The others will have to be contented with dentures. Perhaps we can expect to see  a large number people using dentures -if only they were made more attractive instead of something that is embarrassing or ugly. There are some boys who have lost a few teeth but refused to put on dentures and instead they went round looking with gaps in their teeth and looking comical, resembling old men but in young bodies. While they may think it is macho not to be fussy about outward appearances and not whimper over it, these youngsters couldnt get used to eating or speaking with dentures on. They may find themselves speaking like their grandparents, whistling their words through their teeth or speaking as if their mouths are full.

Wearing dentures can be very uncomfortable when you are out at parties or when you travel with friends. Food gets stuck in between the dentures and your gums. It becomes a hassle and you may need to rinse your mouth more often. You can get embarrassed when someone indiscreet expressed shock or surprise that you are using them, whether sincere or not. You start feeling ugly and may lose confidence because  thoughts of your friends imagining you without the dentures on. You imagine yourself looking awful with gaps between your set of teeth. There is also the fear of letting your ftiends see your pink ‘flesh coloured’dentures soaked in the chemical solution at night at a slumber party.

If only we can put some fun or glamour to wearing these important ‘accessories’? Maybe make a ‘fashion’ out of wearing them?!  Just as you can have contact lenses that are day-wear , week-wear or month-wear, we can have dentures like that too. Perhaps manufacture custom made dentures affordable  for the average income earners ? Instead of being pink, and looking like soneone’s flesh soaking in a tumbler, why not have the teeth embedded in clear plastic? Even fancier just have the ‘gums’ in other colours, multicoloured, gold,  silver or any funky colours and not try to hide the fact that you are wearing dentures. It should not be something to hide away. Even people with silicone implants flaunt their newly acquired fake bosoms!

The Lord of Another Kind

The occupant and owner of a corner lot of the Xth floor of Block X of a HDB community is a lord of another kind.
Why do I say that? This particular male specie is in the mid sixties and, must be rather free and less occupied or not having his full mental capacity used. People like this often get into the nerves of other people without knowing it themselves.
He likes to exercise his power over his neighbours especially the immediate one; the occupants of the last house he has to pass through before reaching his door. Often he would peep through their windows and sometimes doing it like his neighbours never minded.He even stood for a while to stare right into the faces of his neighbours without feeling any guilt of trespassing or intrusion.
He even sprayed insecticide over his neighbour’s plants , accusing them of breeding flies or mosquitoes. He helped to kill some of the neighbours’ plants.
While he has access to the things his neighbours put outside nobody can have access to his because he has a gate fixed to close the walkway to his unit. That is the advantage of owning a corner lot in this kind of HDB apartments.
You will be unlucky to have this kind of neighbour who has a say of what you do outside your unit on the corridor or balcony.

My Stories: So What...HDB living

My Stories: So What...HDB living: We have a rather overbearing neighbour in this HDB neighbourhood aka 10th floor of Block X of a HDB community. Living in the smallest unit...

So What...HDB living

We have a rather overbearing neighbour in this HDB neighbourhood aka 10th floor of Block X of a HDB community.
Living in the smallest unit of all on this floor he decided to occupy as much space outside as possible to make his life grander than his neighbours. He decided to have a row of potted plants along the corrider, placed close to the front wall overlooking the open air space, in order to get the maximun sunlight. Along the wall of his unit he has put a shoe shelf  and a mini ‘incinerator’ (a bin like thing where he can burn his incence paper). As a result of that the walkway that is in between has become much narrower, just sufficient for a medium sized person to move through without banging into his things. If you have come back from shopping with two hands full of things it would be impossible to walk pass without hitting his things unless you did a bit of maneuvouring of your limbs  and torso. Being stiff from ageing I found this quite challenging.
As his unit is next to the stairway(actually that is the reason why his unit is the smallest) he decided his unit is not bad at all and have made the space on top of the stairway  his own by putting an armchair there where he can sit and enjoy a puff or two. He could not care less if his second hand smoke got into his neighbour’s bedroom or the scratching sound of his armchair on his neighbour’s bedroom wall had annoyed them.   He could not bother if his neighbours liked the smoke from the burning joss sticks which he used every evening for his prayers. He could not bother about the smoke from the burning incense paper  that had got into his neighbours house and nearly choked them to death every first and fifteenth day of the Chinese month.

My Stories: Things start to happen at 60...strange.

My Stories: Things start to happen at 60...strange.: Just a couple of years ago I thought my memory was not too bad, as compared to some of my peers. That is how it is. We need a reference poi...

Things start to happen at 60...strange.

Just a couple of years ago I thought my memory was not too bad, as compared to some of my peers. That is how it is. We need a reference point as we do not go for special tests to determine the extent of our memory deterioration.
I could still perform my work at school fairly well and did not miss out things. Of course, as always, I have the habit of keeping a record of things to do and it helped much.
However, this year I find myself grappling with Memory more often. Scary to me at first but I soon got over it. Now I am playing more memory games to stretch that 'muscle' a bit. 

My Stories: God Knows Best

My Stories: God Knows Best: Some of us make the mistake of going by the book. We forget that we are humans, each with a heart,and we have feelings. God looks into our ...