Weekend Barbecue

I had a lovely weekend, thanks to glorious weather and fabulous company. A potent combination, I say! We have chums who will shortly be shifting from their beautiful river-facing apartment to another swanky non-river-facing apartment in the same building. Not that we needed an excuse to pile on there, but we decided the present place needed a solid farewell.

We reached after a long traffic-riddled drive but the smell of well marinated kalmi kebab, paneer, Thai chilli sausages and paprika sprinkled halloumi cheese revitalised these weary bones thanks to A's well honed culinary skills. The increase in temperature was perfect for some lovely mojitos. Now, K has developed a well-nuanced routine to deliver these delicious cocktails. The most important portion being the "tribal crushed ice " dance. I think it's typical of us dentists to improvise, when you don't have a blender to crush you innovate. S took a real liking to this method and I foresee large cracks on our kitchen tiles shortly. I think a pictorial display would be of better help.

Ice cubes + towel + Crazy K = Crushed Ice

Mint+ Lime+ Crushed Ice+ Bacardi+ Soda

Mojitos

(Kalmi Kebab+ Chilli sausage+ Halloumi)/A = Yum

We headed back on Sunday afternoon listening to Radio 4 . The thing about old friends is that you pick up where you left off. You don't judge, you did that years ago and you accept each others' shortcomings. Making friends now at this age seems so much more complicated and difficult, or maybe it is just me. I dont have the patience or the acceptance I had many years ago. Or maybe they just have a lot to live up to.

Pet Peeves

Patience is truly a virtue, especially in my profession and I have a long way to go. Most people hate going to the dentist, and many sit down in my chair look me straight in the eye and go " I hate the dentist". Well in case you haven't noticed I happen to be one! I just think its rude. You can be scared of me, but hate is such a strong word.

Now don't get me wrong I understand dental treatment can be scary and painful, especially if you have neglected your teeth for years and decided to visit me when a tooth starts aching. I empathise, I try to be as patient as humanly possible by myself, but I fail sometimes as I am only human. Something most patients never understand like you we too are mere mortals.

Some of the many excuses I get for rotten teeth/ neglected oral hygiene that really bother me.

1. " My mum had rotten teeth its in the family"

Its a myth, decay is not infectious like influenza, you do not catch it from someone you develop it because of poor dietary habits or poor oral hygiene in 95% of the cases. Don't blame mum or extended family for your rotten teeth!

2. " My teeth just started crumbling after the kids were born they took all my calcium"

Its a myth, yes research in its very very nascent stage is looking into reduced Vitamin D levels in young mums affecting their teeth. But your teeth are not rotting because of that, they are neglected and they are now crumbling like any neglected abused item would.

3. " I don't like the feeling of flossing I won't do it"

Well I wish I could say that, I don't like cleaning your neglected smoke stained mouth I wont do it! We all have to do things we don't like because their benefits far outweigh the actual dislike/discomfort. Its only a piece of thread !

4. " I think my 4- year old sons teeth are stained does he need them polished/whitened"

Key point here, he is FOUR.

5. Don't come in for your check up with yesterdays dinner stuck between your teeth, its rude! You don't go shopping and try on clothes after a one hour sweaty session at the gym, or do you?

6. No it is not ok to use your mobile phone to answer calls when you are sitting in my chair and taking up 15 minutes of my precious time.

I could go on forever but these are a few of my pet peeves. We all have to suffer idiots, thankfully they make up a very small percentage of my day.

My long day was made a little better by my youngest patient of the day a 6- month old little girl. Mums health visitor noticed her bottom baby teeth coming through and advised her to take baby to the dentist. She was perfect, she chewed on my gloves and gurgled and smiled. I don't think she hates me, she wasn't vocal about it. Mum took a picture of me checking her teeth, and I will soon be added to her scrapbook under baby's first day at the dentist. This was my first scrapbook entry and it made me realise why I love my profession.

LEGO

This afternoon over lunch I was browsing through the British Dental Journal and came across a very amusing letter written by a dentist. The picture says it all.

The poor tyke got a piece of Lego stuck over his incisor.The piece was so soundly stuck it ultimately had to be cut off. You can read the entire letter here.
I can only imagine a little boy doing this! I am amazed that the dentist had the presence of mind to take a picture of the offending item.

Prabhudeva on acid.

I saw this internet meme on the andrew sullivan blog thanks to S. I will let the clip do the rest of the talking, enjoy.

Tennis Diaries Part Deux

Today was a scorcher, the temperature hit 28 degrees in London. Not the kind of day you want to spend indoors. This was perfect tennis weather and S and I headed off to Wimbledon. They still use the old Route Master to ferry spectators from Wimbledon station to the courts and it was a nostalgic bus ride, reminding me of my days on the Mumbai bus services (BEST).

We reached the grounds and headed to court no 1 to watch our first match. We saw the lithe Williams sister Venus hesitate and then decimate Tamarine Tanasugarn. We were then pleasantly surprised by the Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie who beat Nicole Vaidisova in an evenly fought three set match. She is the first Chinese player to reach a grand slam singles semi-final and the first woman to go so far at Wimbledon on a wildcard.

We had our fill of tennis and then sauntered around to find something to eat (I have a never ending pit inside of me). Most people had come prepared with large picnic baskets filled with wonderful looking/smelling food items. We walked all through the grounds, Henman Hill, now rechristened Murray Mound/Mount, was full of folks soaking in the sun, tennis and strawberries and cream. Wimbledon is tennis at its best and well worth a visit if you live here.