So I’m sitting in the dentist office last Monday morning for my bi-yearly cleaning, when the dentist comes in for the exam.
The first words out of her mouth: Wow, what’s going on with number 19?
The second words out of her mouth: I think the tooth is unrecoverable.
Yes, which means I get to have a tooth pulled. Number 19 in case you didn’t pick up on that from her cheerful comments. Sigh. Of my options, the implant looks the best.
This wonderful experience started my mind on a path of random thoughts on teeth. How much power they have in writing. How much I remember things about them.
My teeth thoughts, in no particular order:
1) Wow, I’ll have a bionic tooth.
2) Remember the tooth implant Zane had in Pretties by Scott Westerfeld? It was bugged. What if they put some kind of bugging technology in my tooth?
3) And on the subject of Scott Westerfeld, while reading Specials, as soon as the part came where Tally had sharp teeth filed into points, I couldn’t get that image out of my head. I couldn’t imagine how anyone found this attractive (or pretty). I hated that she didn’t get her teeth fixed at the end. For the love of god, file down the points at a very minimum.
4) I remember while reading Saturn’s Race by Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes, as soon as an image of a person with shark-like teeth came onscreen, I knew it was the bad guy. And yep, it was.
5) The reason I want to read The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan is based on title alone. I have this image of hands and teeth hanging on trees. (No spoilers please)
6) Teeth can grow on ovaries (OK, weird, I know, but I had to put it out there).
7) How about the Stephen King book The Tommyknockers? I remember watching the mini-series and have a vivid memory of the guy getting ready to pull his tooth out with pliers.
8) And what about Tom Hanks knocking his tooth out with an ice-skate in Cast Away? This image haunts me. (I know this was a movie and not a book, but still.)
So what book-related tooth experiences have made the most impact on you?
Parker Peevyhouse
lindajoysingleton
Joni Sensel
Chris Eboch
Nick
Greg R. Fishbone
I can’t even think of examples in books, but I suspect teeth have so much imaginative power because of deeply entrenched associations with 1) predator teeth biting into us and 2) the fact that not so long ago, when your teeth stopped working, you were essentially dead, because gnawing on twigs and meaty bones required them. They’re a potent symbol of vitality, vulnerability, and threat. And rites of passage, I suppose (tooth fairy). Which is why I personally think Carrie’s title is so fabulous.
Great thoughts, Joni! Gumming away on twigs wouldn’t be too effective! And there are just so many almost instinctive feelings about teeth. Predators with large ferocious teeth…ugh!
And Carrie’s title is probably one of the very best titles I’ve ever heard.
Love the tooth fairy thought!
The worst is when you have weird dreams about teeth. Once I dreamed I had two rows of teeth, like a shark. I guess that makes me a baddie, eh PJ?
Totally, Parker. I’d have accused you on the spot!
HAHA!! Isn’t it crazy what your mind thinks? And I’m with you on Tally’s sharp teeth–I found that image so stupid that I quit thinking of it and pretended that part had never been written.
(And I’m super excited about Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth, too!!!)
Those teeth stayed with me the entire book, Beth! I couldn’t get them out of my mind. Maybe teens would feel differently, but once I heard about filed teeth, it was all I could imagine.
“Is it safe?”
Of course, that’s from my favorite dental-related scene in literature — the tooth-drilling scene in MARATHON MAN. I thought it was even more effective in the novel, by William Goldman, than in the film with Dustin Hoffman as the unlucky patient and Laurence Olivier as the Nazi dentist. Still gives me chills.
And as long as we’re including movies, who could forget Jack Nicholson’s turn as the pain-loving patient in the original black and white LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.
Oh, and I first read of a characte filing their teeth to sharp points in Thomas Pynchon’s “V”.
I must read MARATHON MAN, Eric. I think I just feel so vulnerable there at the dentist office with my mouth wide open.
And I always wondered. When one has their teeth filed into points, how to they use those teeth for any chewing? I mean I know we should use our front teeth to chew much, but some. And how about tearing off a ragged fingernail? How can you do that with filed teeth?
Thanks for visiting!
When I was a kid, I tried to find a sci-fi book that would hook my mother because she was such a non-SF person. The one I picked was PROSTHO PLUS by Piers Anthony, about a dentist who gets abducted by aliens who need some dental work done. I imagined that the theme of good dental hygiene would resonate with my mother and draw her in.
No such luck.
Great cover art, though.
How about the secretary, Miss Tixie from Condfedercy of the Dunces, and how she would eat her sandwiches. (eww) and if I am not mistaken I think she would bite as well.
What the Dickens the Rogue Tooth Fairy is all about the teeth.
I never knew Marathon Man was a book
Funny that you picked one on teeth, Greg! No wonder she ran the other way!
Oooh, Doret, I haven’t read Confederacy of Dunces. And now I wondering if I should
Thanks for dropping by!
OMG, Greg! just checked the cover art!!!!! Yikes!!!!!
Doret: MARATHON MAN was probably the best thriller I ever read — and I read a lot of them when I was growing up! (William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for the film as well as the novel, is probably best known for his novel and screenplay, THE PRINCESS BRIDE.) (And again, if you’ve only ever seen the movie, I urge you to read the book!)
OK, I’m convinced. I’m adding Marathon Man to my reading list for the year.
Non SFF example…in one of the Ellen Emmerson White books — Long Live the Queen, the character is kidnapped, and the first thing they do is go after her with a pair of pliers… I remember having to lie on the floor and squeak when I read that.
Ugh, Tanita! Sounds horrible! I can totally empathize with how you felt!
I just remembered the opening scene of The Black Book of Secrets (an MG novel): the main character escapes from a guy who’s trying to take his teeth!
OMG, yes, Parker! This was a truly powerful first scene!