Last night I fell off my bike, got deep grazes and scrapes all across my body and face, but the worst thing was getting some pretty big chips out of my teeth. Feeling along the the bottom of my front teeth with my tongue, the crumbled bottoms of the three injured teeth felt fragile and useless; the nerve exposed and vulnerable.
I went to the emergency dentist today, and the news was not too bad. I'd been lucky, I could have done more damage and I'll have to have temporary fillings, which will then be replaced by permanent fillings that actually match the colour of my teeth. The advice I had from the dentists was not to bite into anything hard like apples, toffee, crust rolls...what about lamb chops, I asked, thinking of those chargrilled, spicy lamb chops at my favourite restaurant, Tayyabs, just around the corner? Yes, those too. And for how long, I asked? For a few weeks? No, for ever.
For someone always ready to bite into the next challenge, no matter how gnarly, this is quite a concern. And it brings in to sharp relief how precious a fully functioning body is for enjoying food. Of course I'll still be able to enjoy food, but I think I;ll always have a little niggle in the back of my mind: will this delicious apple/chop/ciabatta pull my tooth out?!
On the plus side, this has spurred me on to reignite my blog. I've been writing essays and revising for exams since February, and though I have the minor task of a 15,000 word dissertation ahead of me, I'll be blogging again. Yay.
