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| The Hunchback Dentist by Steve Cartwright |
'You can drink as many coffees and teas and smoke as many cigarettes and your teeth will never stain,' says Dr. John as he buffs the four front crowns to match the new ones he's putting in.
It was meticulous and tedious work putting in the twenty crowns, but Dr. John seemed to relish every moment of it.
'Do the preparation properly and the last part of putting them in should be easy.'
He says it's like a jigsaw puzzle.
'Start with the upper teeth and hope for the fucking best that the bottom fit perfectly.
He tells me to bite.
'Perfect!'
Not only have I got a perfect bite, but a realigned smile.
'No sunken cheeks, no lower lip drooping like you are sucking out of a straw because you have no teeth.'
He fired off the 'before' and 'after' pictures to his colleagues moments after I free to wander the streets of Manila with a real and genuine smile.
'Incredible,' says his peers, 'and a fast turn around.'
They weren't looking at the TV smile element of it, 'but the symmetry, the design of the teeth and lastly the aesthetics.'
No doubt about it Dr. John, you are the miracle man in my eyes.
I didn't think he could save my bottom teeth that were ground down from the four upper porcelain.
'You look ten years younger,' he says.
I can't thank him enough.
I give him a hug.
It seems the right gesture.
'At least people won't think you are a junkie anymore,' he says, 'and if you ever do see our president, he now won't have you shot because you look like a user.'
Not only do I look younger, 'you look different.'
I said it would help a lot with my enemies.
'They'll be looking for the guy with the bad teeth.'
Dr. John is one tuned in Philipino, in one sentence he'll spiel off my different alias. He knows my backstory. I even showed him my passport.
'I even changed the angle of your tooth next to the canine to make it look like a natural tooth grown at the wrong angle.'
He said he did it to compensate for the bite.
But there's nothing like a bit of authenticity in this espionage game, I tell him.
He's impressed I even noticed.
'Not many do.'
