Thu morning and after a good rest, the heat and pain vanished and my mind turned

clear. I sailed through strength drills with a strong finish. A lingering pain

under the cheekbone above the right upper molars reminded me, however, that it

was not over.

The past week felt like a decade. On the evening of Thu May 20 my right face 

started to bulge under the eye and almost doubled in size over night. Things did

not improve the next 24 hours and the upper gum joined the inflation on Sat.

Typically, after a quiet morning, it would warm up and the pain would come

intermittently and worsen toward the evening. For three days, I did nothing

except for watching videos and feeding on watermelons. I even stopped reading

the dictionary.

I heard a long time ago that a man, however great, cannot face calmly his own

toothache. Mediocre in almost every way, I didn't even try and felt no shame

cooping myself up. I had all the time to suffer, self-pity, reflect, and ask:

"Why me?  Why now?"

It eventually dawned on me that I had ignored dental health for too long and I

was paying now.

Growing up in the 70s in the Chinese rural north, I learned by observation: none 

of the village elders had good teeth, if at all, and concluded that bad teeth

were inevitable as one aged. Grandma did not brush her teeth. Dental hygiene

must have only come after the invention of plastic.

During the great invasion of white flour, rice, and sugar in the 80s and 90s, I was

never alerted to defend myself with regular brushing. The gum disease grew so bad

that around the time of college graduation when I first heard about dental cleaning,

I could suck the gums and spit out blood. Four years later and the first time I

visited a clinic (in Canada), it took Michelle the hygienist one unit to clean only

a quarter of my teeth and I had to come back two more times to finish. She told me

that the way things went, I could lose all my teeth in my late 30s.

Even after that, I did not take ownership and instead delegated dental care to

professionals. Twice a year, I visited the dentist who would advice better habits 

which I would practice for a few weeks. Things went on like that for the next 20

years during which I got five wisdom teeth extracted and one denture and one

bridge installed for two central incisors, one up and one down.

The urgency I have felt since awakening to health at age 40 did not carry over

to my mouth. Instead, I believed that a good diet would fix everything, including

the teeth and gums, especially after reading Weston Price. (Price was not wrong

but my incomplete truth only delivered false confidence.) I haven't been to a

dentist for the last three years.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, which might be why Socrates claimed

that the only thing he knew was that he knew nothing. Since late 2020, the gums

were giving me one problem after another. I was no longer able to chew almonds

on the right side. I attributed these to over-exercising and dehydration. Recently

as I found, the innocent lemon water, which I tried to replace coffee with, turned

out to be so acidic that it could damage the enamel if one is not careful. In short,

long-term negligence led to last week's rebellion.

OK. I think I finally have got the point, I cannot take my teeth for granted any more. 

Good thing is that I should be able to practice what I know. Thank You!