Story about ignoring the warning signs…

The rush to go office on a Monday morning is such, that if there would be a “who-gets-ready-for-office-first” competition, Sameer would definitely get the top honours.

Out of bed by 9, with the alarm at bedside getting snoozed for the nth time, and then a mad rush to complete the morning chores followed, where everything was done at breathtaking speed, yes that does include the natures’ call as well. With eyes barely open, standing next to the basin to put on his paste, most of it finding its way down, he tried hard to get the toothpaste land on the toothbrush. With whatever little that fell there on the bristles, an attack of sorts was made onto the teeth with it. As if, it’s a floor mop!! And there was no thought given to make the floor look clean (teeth here) as well. Brushing the teeth was no less than any formality.

Eyes, still not open, he could see red in between the sea of white splashed down in the basin of what came out of his mouth. It wasn’t the first time, but still it was good enough to make him stop for a second. But seconds are precious for him, especially on Mondays. So, time to let it be like that. All set and it was time for office.

Day after day, the monotonous life of a techie working his way through bugs in Computer programs, replying to emails, meetings, little coffee breaks, laughing without reason on your boss’ joke, and life goes on. Young, fresh out of college working at an MNC, is how one can define Sameer. Being straight out of college, and then being put into this whole new set up of professional life, is still new to Sameer. Although with training and orientation, it’s been close to 6 months. Yet, he tries to compensate his boring new bug-solving life over the weekend. And it being Friday, it was time to say, Thank God It’s Friday!!

With friends popping in from various quarters of the city to take a break from their own lives as well, it was time to Party!! Something or the other was definitely planned for every week. Parties were not just a stress buster but a getaway for the tired minds of the whole week.

This Friday though, something changed. It was almost time for the office to end, having skipped the lunch so as to quickly end the days’ work. Sameer took an apple from a colleague’s desk, paying little heed to the complaining, but then for Sameer, “Who cares?” was his moto. One bite into it, and there was something that ached. His tooth. And the red apple became red inside as well. With blood.

The early morning one second pause everyday was now a deep revering thought till office was over. Of course, the little toothache and the half eaten apple, being the source of constant reminder. He threw away the apple onto the dustbin but the thought of a problem persisting was hard to ignore. So, a party on the weekend was out of question and a dentist’s appointment sounded more like a necessity.

An appointment was arranged. After little thought and examination, the doctor enquired him regarding random day to day habits of eating and brushing. He suggested some simple measures for him by giving him Colgate toothpaste and a soft bristle brush to work it out for a week with it. Told him to be gentle on his teeth rather than attacking it with all his might. It was difficult for him to resist not being harsh with the brush, but with that red-inside-out apple’s image flashing in his mind, going slow became part of the process. After a week, the red and white modern art in the basin every time he brushed got reduced to a great extent, another visit to the dentist awaited.

The dentist just gave a smile to him, and said to relax; things have started to fall back into place. The only thing he needed to do was to follow the same instructions. From a survey, two out of every three Indians suffer from gum problems and are unaware of it. Blood can be the sign of bigger gum problems like gingivitis, receding gums or even tooth loss if left untreated. One should not ignore the warning signs your body gives you! The dentist, explained all of it to him. The reason for the bleeding was the sensitive teeth that Sameer had, and special attention should have been given to it. He also, shared the link of Colgate Speak Blog  http://www.myhealthyspeak.co.in/ so that he can go through it regularly and also create awareness so that everyone can take care of the teeth. There could have been a possibility of gingivitis in his teeth also, but this time it was just limited to a sensitive gums. Ignoring the warning signs could have proven way too costly but thanks to the appointment he got with the dentist at the cost of enjoying his weekend saved him. A lesson was learnt finally for ignoring warning signs!!

Now, Sameer is back to his old ways of picking up apples from others’ desk and biting it out. But this time, the apple remains red only from the outside.