Class 9 English Question Answers - Oh, I Wish I d Looked After Me Teeth

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

Q1. The poet laughed at her mother’s false teeth. Now her fate is no less different. Discuss the irony inherent in this situation, giving evidence of the problems the poet would face in the future.

Ans. The irony concealed in the situation is that having laughed at her mother's false teeth she is now faced with the same situation. She is having serious problems — painful cavities, the need to visit a dentist, lying in his chair undergoing large painful hours of medication, the tedious process of drilling, getting infections, getting the cavities filled with amalgam and so on.

Q2. What precautions should be taken to undertake dental care? What is the poet’s regret?

Ans. Childhood is a period of fancies, gorging on tasty food and it is very difficult to avoid temptation. Sherbets, candies, lollies appear in all hues and tastes and they are enough to tickle the palate and send the taste-buds racing. Children are specially very susceptible to temptations and they are very impulsive as far as food is concerned.
Parents and other elderly people keep advising youngsters but they do not pay any heed. The poet’s mother was very perceptive when she told the poet that our teeth are our best friends since it is through them that we enjoy all the best things of life. The poet never bothered to use a proper toothbrush or rinse her mouth after every meal. She suffered from weak will-power and could not resist sweet sticky food. After teeth have given way to decay, no amount of up and down strokes help, nor does a new toothbrush perform any miracle. The poet’s greatest regret is that she cannot put the clock back as the damage cannot be undone.

So dental hygiene is one of the most important hygiene and it should never be neglected or given secondary importance.

Q3. What are the problems faced by the poet after she neglected her teeth?
 Or
 What is the poet’s greatest regret in the poem, ‘Oh,
 I wish I’d looked after my teeth’?
 What were the various problems she was confronted with? Answer in about 150 words. [CBSE 2010 (Term I)]

The problems that the poet is facing as a consequence of neglecting her teeth and rather harming them by eating a lot of lollies, liquorice, sherbet, dabs and peanut brittle are — cavities, caps, deterioration of teeth, fillings, infections and drillings. She has to lie in the dentist's chair looking at his nose in despair and undergoing the elaborate treatment of his drilling her molar teeth, getting cavities filled with a mixture of mercury and silver known as amalgam.