They come late and crowd their way
in and push the other teeth out of line and so we go about for
months with the top of our mouths filled with braces and wires and
things, so that when we breathe hard we sob and croon inside of
ourselves like an Aeolean harp.
But in any event we get them all and no sooner do we get them
than we begin to lose them. They develop cavities and aches and
extra roots and we spend a good part of our lives and most of our
substance with the dentist. Nevertheless, in spite of all we can
do and all he can do, we keep on losing them. And after awhile,
they are all gone and our face folds up on us like a crush hat or
a concertina and from our brow to our chin we don't look much more
than a third as long as we used to look. We dislike this
folded-up appearance naturally--who wouldn't? And we get tired of
living on spoon victuals and the memory of past beef-steaks. So
we go and get some false ones made. They have to be made to order;
there appears to be no market for custom made teeth; you never
see any hand-me-down teeth advertised, guaranteed to fit any face
and withstand a damp climate.
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