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Story of your tenant!


     Hay all! It’s your boy Streptococcus mutans. For those who don’t know, I am a bacterium. Me and my friends live in your teeth. Unlike you, I always work from home. I may be a tenant but my landlord always pays the rent (price). And this is my life story.

Let’s get to my humble abode…
  
      My place (i.e. tooth) has two parts- crown (the visible portion) and the root (which provides support and stability). 
      It has three layers- Enamel (outermost), dentin and pulp. My dream is to get to bone for which I have to unlock three stages.


Unlocking first level (enamel)
      My landlord often forgets to brush twice and never flosses. So I get more food to feed on (Yay!) and I produce acid which gives me pass to explore into the tooth. When I am here he won’t feel a thing. He may notice some color change which he neglects.

Unlocking second level (dentin)
      Today I move into dentin. This is so exciting and I can’t keep calm. He may have some sensitivity and tooth discoloration is pretty obvious but neglects it as usual.

Unlocking third level (pulp)
       At this stage my home is damaged from the acids I produce. And my landlord definitely feels the pain. He could have gone to a dentist to get treated. But he didn’t (thank god!) instead he swallows some pain killers. As if they could kill me.

My dream place!
       Finally I get to the bone via the pulp canal. My landlord can’t stand the pain. He decides to go to a dentist and he recommends root canal treatment (RCT). But he refuses it, saying it is so pricey (still not ready to pay the price!) and swallows some antibiotics instead. My friends got killed (sob!!) But I am alive, hiding here (shhhh) I will get back at him when the time comes.
      After a long time….my wait is over. He is so stressed and this is the right time to get active and aggressive this time. His face is swollen. He goes to the dentist once again and now he tells to remove the tooth (can you believe it!) So here I am out of my landlord’s mouth and he pays my rent.    

PS- You can not see all surfaces of all your teeth by yourself, especially the area between two teeth. Also that is where enamel has minimum thickness. This gives bacteria the edge to cause caries easily.
        So if you visit a dentist regularly just for an examination, you can save yourself from pain and sufferings.  

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Comments

  1. Such an interesting bacterial story, hat's off to the creator

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well written!! Enjoyed the hilarious bit as well!! Keep up the good work :)

    ReplyDelete

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