The Price of a Smile

Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Price of a Smile

Assalamu ‘Alaikum

The Price of a Smile

It was worth every sen. Now she smiles at every opportunity. Many moons ago in Riyadh when she was a wee bit smaller she must have tripped and hit a coffee table or something. We weren’t sure, it could also have been the tons of sweet the two front teeth had no choice but to process. The end result was a gap in her smile which had us a little bit worried because the stumps were still intact. With the tooth fairy scheduled to deliver her permanent teeth soon we wanted the fairy’s job to be easier without having to deal with the milk teeth stumps as well.
So Mama and Papa agreed, and Papa dug deep in his pocket for Adila to have a dental surgery to remove the stumps. Aah yes, another thing is that it can’t be done in a normal dentist’s clinic. We have run out of dentists in Bukit Jelutong who’s not afraid of Adila. Once she makes up her mind to clench her mouth shut no amount of persuasion by any dentist will get her to open it, leave alone let any dentist poke all those sharp things in her mouth. We suspected the young dentist we last visited broke down in tears as soon as we left; everything about dentist chair side manners she learnt at med school failed miserably with Adila. Well she’s in good company even Adila’s paedi did not fare any better in other encounters.

So it was in this spanking brand new Medical Centre in Shah Alam that we arranged for Adila to have her dental surgery. This dentist fared a little bit better than the others as Adila was under sedation this time. So out came the stumps plus six other little teeth which probably spared the tooth fairy some overtime. Now its endless sweet smiles from this happy eight year old girl. Still with gaps and generally toothless but a happy smile nonetheless. We only knew how heavy it weighed on her little mind when she confided with Mama that she was very shy to smile before this. We are parentally happy too; Mama said we should remember to up her mas kahwin* when the moment comes.

Mama and I also agreed our parents could never have afforded such expenditure for kids. Our tooth problems being solved either through natural means or through the proverbial stringed tooth tied to the doorknob. Dental visits will be when the doktor kerajaan visits our schools; otherwise we just pretend dentists don’t exists, tooth pains being solved by Granny’s clove or two, or the juice of Mum’s squeezed garlic.

There are many other things our kids go through where we had other alternatives in days gone by. When our five year olds stretched their limbs at the playground during kindergarten recess we flexed and stretched muscles through acrobatics on rambutan trees. When they splashed and squealed with float wings in beautifully blue swimming pools, we had natural Jacuzzi in clear kampong streams. When kampong lads in the likes of a Malaysian Tom Sawyer was our childhood hero and caring big brother, Zahir had clean cut little Farhan who pinches everyone at every opportunity. When we had marbles and tops and kites to keep us busy, our kids have zombies to kill, aliens to destroy and buildings to demolish in their computer world.

Well, that’s progress. Wonder what the kids will be writing about their own kids in their blogs in times to come.

Wassalam,

Zahid

Note: * mas kahwin = dowry; doktor kerajaan= government doctor; rambutan= a favorite local fruit;
             kampong= village