Last week, I visited my dentist; same problem as I had 4 years ago; stains on my teeth.
He served me well to the extent that even when he did not say it this time round, I would not disobey him again but....
My dentist is a wonderful guy; he talks and jokes a lot. In 2019 when I went for my second visit over the teeth stains, he asked what he had asked 3 years ago; whether I smoke, take lots of coffee or coke. I replied in the affirmative to the latter and he advised me to tone down or abandon them altogether.
This, I promised that I would do after emptying my tin of Nescafe and I did. I stopped taking coffee and Coke for a month and a few weeks.
However, in early tweni-tweni (2020) I heard that there was a strange outbreak of disease which was going to kill all of us - COVID-19. Within, I asked, why preserve teeth when the flu is going to kill us anyway? Therefore, I resumed my caffeine diet. This time round, it was too much that I could count over 5 liters of Coke in a week and the coffee in plenty.
By the time Museveni locked down the nation, I had forgotten all about my dentist and as you, town people rushed to buy toilet paper, I was scampering for large stock of coffee and assurance that the village shop will not run out of Coke. Who cared about toilet paper when there were trees all around us?
Just like that, COVID derailed my efforts to keep my teeth healthy.
Therefore, when I walked back to his dental clinic, I was praying not to find Wilber but lo, he is the one who received me. He smiled but I could not smile back, my heart was heavy with guilt.
"I can tell that you have been taking coffee and coca-cola"
He summoned me to his room and started his work. Mid-way through the cleaning, I was just praying that I may retain my jaws and the teeth gum; lucky enough, I did. Since then, every time I have been seeing a dental clinic I take to my heels, lest I am summoned for another operation.
When I told this to my best friend, he gave me the best advice you would receive from a friend; "continue taking coke and coffee, but stop staring in the mirror, it is the one which will show you that your teeth have stains", he said.
As I speak, my heart is divided between taking the advice of the dentist or my OB who owns a depot of coke!
