I was in for a pleasant surprise as I entered my dentist’s clinic that morning for a routine check-up. Coming out of the clinic was Akhilesh, my good old college mate, whom I had not met for over a decade. Though both of us were now retired, it was obvious that we had reasonably succeeded in keeping up our health and appearances. No wonder we easily recognised each other. Since my routine check-up was due forthwith and could last about fifteen minutes only, and he—and, of course, I too—had nothing urgent to run to, we decided to spend an hour or two catching up. He offered to wait in the lounge until my return.
After about twenty minutes, we were seated on the patio of a nearby café, which was known to harbour idlers like us right now. The beauty of this place was that if you did not wonder about the money you spent there, they did not bother about the time you spent there—sort of quid pro quo! We settled in quickly and started chatting.
We earnestly started with the topic that was still hot—our visit to the dentist’s! I confessed that I had two implants, even though I had managed to keep my remaining dental jewels intact. He sat brooding for a while. His ordeals, as he told me later, seemed to be quite extraordinary. I have merely quoted below his story as told by him:
“You know how muscular and strong I have been. But my infancy was difficult. Mom had health issues while I had my own. She was worried about me. So she took me to the temple of our village deity. I was laid before the deity, and the priest showered holy water and rolled the deity’s danda (staff) over my body, from head to toes, blessing me for health and strength. I grew up to be very healthy, never suffered from diseases, and never got into hospitals. But surprisingly, I had to quite often visit dentists, even after carefully maintaining oral health. One dentist even joked that I must have somewhere imbibed a notorious strain of bacteria that has stayed put! So, with all this physique and fitness, I am hopelessly vulnerable dentally! You know, I always compare my teeth with Achilles’ heel! Achilles’ mother dipped him in the Styx to make him invulnerable, but held his one heel above the water while doing so. As destiny would have it, that heel became his weak point and proved fatal. When our priest blessed my infant body, I had not yet grown my teeth! So my teeth became my Achilles’ heel.”