For many reasons, but mainly because of my negligence in dental care during my early adulthood, my mouth is a museum of dentistry science and techniques. In addition to multiple fillings and missing teeth, I have crowns, root-canals, and implants to just mention a few. This post, however, is not about teeth or dentistry. It is about my empathy and sympathy for rabbits and other rodents that I have developed as a result of recent tooth problems!
You see, I had to do some serious dental works recently. Afterwards, however, the two areas in my mouth - lower right and upper left - hurt for almost 3 weeks, and for various logistical reasons, I was not able to get to a dentist. As a result, I had a real problem chewing things, especially harder things such as meat, crusty bread, and a multitude of food items. It was difficult, and most of the times painful, to use the molars on the two sides of my mouth to chew properly, so I started using the front canine, and certainly, incisor teeth.
The experience was not pleasant, as I had to cut the food in pieces using the incisors, then try to chew them a bit before swallowing them. There was very little pleasure in biting/chewing and swallowing. In addition, every so often the cut pieces wobbled in my mouth and hurt my jaw.
And that is why, the other day, I thought about the rodents, in particular the rabbits and squirrels. Can you imagine going through life using mostly canine teeth to cut, and the molars way in the back of the mouth? That must be brutal, especially for squirrels who feed on nuts.
Does that mean, the next time I see a mouse, I will go over and explain how I share its difficulty eating, and then not get rid of it? No not at all, I just do it, while showing compassion and empathy for the little harmful animal. On the other hand, I have developed a real affection for rabbits and squirrels.
Paris, April 24, 2021,
Zeejay