—The Dentist 1998—
I can still hear my dentist saying it.
“Gold will last until you’re around fifty years old. The other won’t last that long.”
I was in my twenties and getting my first crown. I was officially an adult…
I chose Gold.
“Mom, guess what? I got a gold tooth. Yeah. For real. …I’m not turning around and taking it back, mom… It’s in the back of my mouth. Yeah. It’ll last until I’m around fifty. That’s a long time away. Yeah.”
—December of 2021—
My dentist has what seems like two hands crammed inside my mouth. “That’s gotta come out…”
“Hmm? wadda, u sayin?”
“I said the tooth with the Gold crown has to come out.”
“mm-mm, K,mm-mm, close to fiddy. I’m fordy-sis. That dentiss said I’d be abut fiddy. I’m fordy-sis.”
“We’ll schedule it for January. That okay?”
“MM-MM. Glad I got da gold. Almost fiddy.”
