Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth

by Pam Ayres
Key Points

 The poet is very sad and regretful. She regrets her grievous mistake of neglecting her teeth during
childhood and younger years.
 The poet, who is in pain and is lying back in a dentist's chair, regrets her past negligence and realises
that if she had looked after the hygiene of her teeth earlier, she would have detected the dangers that
lay in being overindulgent with herself.
 She ate the forbidden items, chewed toffees, sweet sticky food, all sorts of large-hard sweets;
liquorice and sherbet dabs.
 Little did she realise then, the damage eating such sweets would cause to her teeth. Recklessly she
spent all her pocket money on buying and eating such harmful sweets.
 Food habits alone were not responsible for the damage. Her poor sense of dental hygiene was equally
responsible for all the troubles and embarrassment.
 Her dental care was in fact a mere formality. She brushed her teeth only for name sake, hurriedly and
carelessly; not able to foresee the result of her neglect.
 She could not foresee endless dental problems and that soon she would have to go to a dentist. Soon
she was a regular at the dentist's- sometimes to get the cavities filled in or to get her damaged teeth
drilled or extracted.
 Had she known it earlier, she would have thrown away all the sweets and toffees she had eaten. But
all is too late now!
 The poet recalls the time when she would laugh at her mother's false teeth. They would be left in a
container of water when not in use. Her false teeth in foam appeared funny to her. Now she realizes
that she was being punished for her callous laughter as it was her turn now.
 The poet ends her poem by wishing that she had looked after her teeth earlier on.

Poetic Devices

i) Alliteration
 sweet sticky
 much more
 there than
 cavities, caps
 drill it do
 molars of mine
 my mother's
 lollies I licked

ii) Refrain

 Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth. (Line 5 and 45)

iii) Rhyme Scheme:

 5 line limericks.- aabba.

iv) Pun (Puns offer a humorous or rhetorical effect by exploiting multiple meanings or similar
sounding words with different meanings. This playful use of language can create comedic relief
or add deeper layers of meaning).
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  Amalgum – ‘Amalgam’ refers to mixture, in this case a mixture of mercury and silver, but the poet
uses pun by replacing ‘gam’ with ‘gum’ as the teeth are embedded in the gum in the jaw.

v) Metaphor

 use of the word ‘murder’ while referring to the filling, drilling and injecting.

vi) Personification

 drill it do whine

Reference to the Context

“When I think of the lollies I licked,

And the liquorice all sorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
My conscience gets horribly pricked.”

i) What mood of the poet does the stanza bring out?

a) remorse b) amusement
c) criticism d) sarcasm

ii) What poetic device does the poet use in this stanza?

iii) Which word in the stanza means ‘hurt’?

iv) How does the poet feel at the end of the stanza? Why?

(II) “Oh, I showed them the toothpaste all right,

I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin‟
And pokin‟ and fussin‟
Didn‟t seem worth the time – I could bite !”

i) What trait of the poet’s personality is not highlighted by her casual approach to her teeth?
a) callousness b) negligence c) gullibility d) meticulousness

ii) How should ‘she’ have actually brushed her teeth?

iii) Who does ‘them’ in the above stanza refer to?

iv) The poet has a deep sense of regret? What is it?

Short Answer Questions (40-50 words)

1) What troubles had the poet paved the way for?

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Ans. teeth problems - cavities due to being rotten, caps fitted on teeth ends, decayed teeth, suffering the
torture of fillings, injections and drilling of the teeth.

2) "If you got a tooth, you got a friend", what do you understand from the line!?

Ans. If one has healthy teeth.... does not have to face the torture of going to the dentist. .... healthy tooth
saves us from unnecessary pain and is therefore like a true friend who does not cause us pain.

Long Answer Questions (100-120 words)

1) The poem illustrates the truth of the proverb, 'Look before you leap'. Comment.

Ans. The poem is a glowing example of a careless attitude in life at a time when everything is going in one's
favour. It shows the downfall of a person who is not careful about his actions today in the light of its results
later on. It is not enough to live for the day because the future depends on how well we have for ourselves as
neglecting teeth today will cause pain tomorrow.

The poet talks about the consequences of neglect of one's teeth by giving a description of the pain that
follows such neglect. She points out that tooth decay is a consequence of overindulgence and the lack of
willpower. She emphasises that looking after one's health is not just a medical requirement but also a way of
strengthening our willpower. By describing all the troubles that tooth decay causes, the poet stresses that
dental hygiene is as important as any other precaution.

The poem brings out the fact that dental hygiene can be followed by being careful of our actions today so
that we can have a happier tomorrow. Living under the false impression that brushing one's teeth properly
can be taken light-heartedly when teeth are sound, can be disastrous later on.

Being careless about brushing today can definitely lead to teeth decay later on as is seen in the case of the
poet. Before we begin to overindulge in sweets or in other temptations the poem warns us to hold back and
not give in to our weaknesses, because the consequences are painful.

2) On the basis of your reading the poem “Oh I Wish I‟d Looked After Me Teeth,” write an article
for your school magazine on the topic ‘Dental Health is Vital for Overall Health’.