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Speaker 1: Dentists are the worst patience. We all know the signs,

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but we also know all the excuses. It started a

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week ago with a deep ache in my jaw. At

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first it was sharp and persistent, Then it settled into

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a low, pulsing pressure that spread up to the side

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of my face. For the past few days, I'd catch

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myself grinding against it without knowing, biting down just to

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meet the resistance. It got bad enough that I had

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to take an X ray between appointments. I thought maybe

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I'd missed something obvious, like a cracked cusp and inflame ligament,

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but everything came up clean. I told myself it would

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ease up in a day or two. Most things too.

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I work at a small dental practice, which consists of

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three rooms in a waiting area no life than a

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living room. The building had once been a bank long

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before my time, and the old vault door still sat

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bolted to the rear hallway wall, a relic we couldn't

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afford to remove. We used the volt as a supply room. Now.

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Stock came in through the side entrance and got stored

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behind that heavy door where the safety deposit boxes used

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to be. I'd taken over the practice from my mentor

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nearly twenty years ago, back when the carpets were new

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and the NHS still sent inspectors. Since then, I've had

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budgets slashed, suppliers cutting corners, fewer staff, and fewer patients

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who could afford regular care. But I kept going. The

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girl in the chair today couldn't have been more than eight.

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She was nervous, fidgety, her small hands tugging at the

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cuff of a school jumper as we went through the

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usual questions like how many times a day do you brush?

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And manual or electric, all of which her mother answered.

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She chipped one of a moler's chewing on a hard sweet,

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and a small cavity had opened up beneath the crack,

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just deep enough to neat filling before it turned into

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something worse. She looked terrified. It's just a small filling,

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that's all, I reassured her, keeping my voice low and easy,

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the tone I'd perfected over years to calm my patience.

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Nothing you'll even notice after a day. She gave me

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a look when she wasn't so sure. I had one

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just last week myself, I added, opening my mouth so

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she could get a good view and pointing towards her

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tooth with a gloved finger. Didn't hurt at all, barely

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felt it really a lie. Technically, the ache had been

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waking me up some nights now, a deep throbbing thing

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under the back of my molar. They'd patched with one

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of the new composite kits. That's what I get for

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letting a student dental nurse practice on me. But I

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assured this girl that she had nothing to worry about.

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I had perfected this. She seems to relax a little

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at that, enough to lean back without gripping the chair

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arms so tightly. Kelly stood to my left, ready with

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a suction watching the girl more than the tools. She'd

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been assisting in this practice longer than I'd been running it.

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She had her good instinct for nerves, knew when to

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speak and when not to. I gave her a small

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nod of approval and adjusted the light as I worked.

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A slow pulsing pressure pressed in my jaw, which seemed

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to keep in time with the drill. I ignored it. When

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the girl and her mother left, I cleaned down the

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room and logged the notes into the cyst them another

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job done outside the afternoon had started the slide into gray,

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the sky thick with a kind of clouds that promised rain.

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By evening, I was halfway through preparing for my next

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patient when the receptionist buzzed through. Mister Collins is here,

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early says, is in quite a bit of discomfort. I

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checked the screen. Collins had only been in two weeks ago,

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a standard cavity, nothing remarkable, composite filling, same batch as

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the others. Just as I was about to call him,

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I caught a notification at the bottom of my screen.

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It was another email from my daughter Claire. I didn't

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have time to open it now. She was still abroad,

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enjoying her twenties, moving from place to place. She mentioned

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before that she didn't trust the dentists out there. Just

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a few weeks ago, I sent her some spare composite kits, adhesives,

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and a new pack of itch and bond they wear

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extras from the new supplier. They sent more than I ordered,

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probably hoping to keep me on as a regular customer.

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I sighed and robed at my jaw. Then I called

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Collins through. He shuffled into the chair with a stiff weariness.

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He was in his mid forties. Over the ten years

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he'd been coming here, I'd learned that he was a

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factory worker, and the kind of man who didn't complain

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unless something was really wrong. It's been aching like hell,

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he said, keeps me up some nights. Feels like it's moving,

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if that makes sense, I nodded, already pulling up the

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X ray from last time. Any swelling fever, no fever,

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A bit tender, hurts more at night. There is a

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dull sort of pressure. I lined him up for a

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fresh X ray, tilting the sensor to catch the apex properly.

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My jaw throbbed as I worked, as if he were

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keeping pace with the hum of the machine. I tried

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not to rub at it while he watched. When the

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image loaded, I pulled up the last one beside it

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for comparison. I'd taken it barely a fortnight ago. I

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was expecting a slight shift, perhaps a faint halo at

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the apex, something I could attribute to early Pubertis, or

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a missed microfracture, something familiar. Instead, the interior of the

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tooth looked dramatically worse. There were voids and areas beneath

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the enamel that had been solid a week ago, now hollowed.

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The density wasn't right, and on closer inspection there was

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a neat round a hole. I leaned in closer to

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the monitor. I've been staring at dental films for thirty years,

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and I'd never seen voids like that, clean, deliberate, looking,

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almost surgical, except no drill had done this. Still, I

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kept my tone calm when I turned back to Collins.

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No point worrying him unnecessarily. All right, let's have her

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closer look. Sit back for me. He settled into the

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chair again, slower this time, rubbing his sjaw the WinCE

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as he went. I called through for one of the

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dental nurses to come in and assist, and told her

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I'd be removing the feeling to take a closer look.

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Kelly came in, composites failing already. She asked, pulling on gloves,

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maybe I need a proper lock. I said, she didn't.

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Ask to see the aray, and set up the tray.

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Despite her lack of questions, we both knew patients didn't

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usually end up back in the chair this soon, unless

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something had gone wrong. Collins lay back and waited. I

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had just a delight, checked the anesthetic had taken hold,

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and gave it another minute, just to be sure. No

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need to rush. The drill felt heavier than usual in

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my hand. I worked carefully, easing through the composite in slow,

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deliberate passes. Kelly held the suction ready without a word.

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Something about the way the filling lifted didn't sit right.

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The material crumbled away too easily, coming loose in brittle

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flakes instead of the solid, predictable chunks I'd placed beneath it.

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The tooth wasn't solid, The structure had given up on

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holding shape. Kelly noticed it too. I didn't need to

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look to know she was watching. When I glanced up,

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she met my eye with a silent, questioning look. I

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gave a small nod. Carry on. I irrigated the cavity,

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cleared what debris I could suction, catching the fragments as

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they floated free. The deeper I went, the more of

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it seemed to fall apart under the burr. It shouldn't

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have looked like that, not this soon, not from a

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simple filling. Kelly handed me the end of probe without asking.

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I tapped gently at the exposed ent in probing for stability.

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The tips sank deeper than it should have. Catching an

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avoid beneath the surface, I paused, leaning in closer, adjusting

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the light for a better view. The walls of the

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tooth flexed under pressure and gave way too easily. Beneath it,

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all beneath what should have been a solid structure was space,

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I felt Kelly nervously watching me work. I rensed again,

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dried the area, and leaned in with a mirror. The

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void seemed to taper off, somewhere deeper than I could reach,

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a narrow track, disappearing beneath what remained of the root structure.

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It wasn't a crack, it wasn't decay. It looked, for

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lack of a better word, eton technically it was still repairable.

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The nerve looked untouched, and there was just enough structure

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left to rebuild on. Nothing a decent lining and fresh

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composite couldn't shore up for now. Let's get the filling kit,

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I said, sitting back. Kelly peeled off her gloves and

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went to the supply cupboard. I heard the box tear

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as she opened it. They make these things dinner every year,

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she said, frowning at the mess. You so much as

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look at the strip wrong and it bursts. The packaging

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was flimsy because the supplier was cheap. I'd started ordering

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from abroad when the budget shrank further. It was from

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somewhere eastern European, and half the instructions were printed in

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a language I couldn't read. We've been running lean for years.

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You cut corners, so you had to. I worked quickly

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but carefully, lining the cavity and rebuilding what I could.

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It wasn't perfect, but it would hold for now. Colin

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sat up slowly once I was done, stretching his numb jaw.

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Give that a day or two to settle. I told him,

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if he gives you any more trouble, you know where

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to find me. He nodded, Thanks, Doc, we'll keep an

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eye on it. Don't hesitate to reach out. Kelly stripped

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off her gloves and started clearing the tray. She waited

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until Colins had gone before she spoke up, hovering by

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the sink with a forehid brow. What was that, she

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asked quieter. Now, I've never seen a tooth come apart

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like that. Neither have I, I said. She rinsed the

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instrument slower than usual. Like she was waiting for me

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to come up with an answer. It looked, I dunno,

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like it had rotted from the inside out. She said,

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the scaler down a little harder than necessary. Not decay though,

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was it? No? I said, not decay. She gave a

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short shake of her head, almost to herself. Weird one.

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Kelly wasn't one to push, but I could feel her

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watching as I rolled my chair back to the computer,

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waiting for me to tell her it was nothing, or

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that I'd seen worse, or that I knew exactly what

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had caused it. When she realized I didn't have an answer,

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she left to go on a break. With a bit

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of down time before my next patient, I opened up

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my inbox. Claire's emails were still sitting there, flagged in bold.

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I clicked open the first one. Hey, Dad, I got

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around to using the stuff you sent. Figured you'd find

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this funny. I propped up a standing mirror on the

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kitchen table, wedged the torch between two cookbooks, and angry

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everything just right so I could see what I was

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doing looked ridiculous. Crouched over my own reflection with a

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filling kit in one hand and a dental probab in

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the other I should have taken a picture. You'd either

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have died laughing or disowned me on the spot, probably both.

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It's not perfect, but it's holding. I'm pretty proud of it,

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if I'm honest. Thought you'd be proud too, considering how

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he used to cry any time I lost the milk tooth.

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When I finally make it back home, you'd better have

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a job waiting for me, Love, Claire. I leaned back

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in the chair and let myself smile, just for a moment.

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Then I clicked open the next email she'd sent earlier.

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It wasn't like her sending two so close together. Hey Dad,

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hope you're all right. You've been in my mind lately.

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I'm starting to think I didn't do the filling properly.

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After all. My jaw's been aching for a few days now,

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worse than I thought it would be. It's gotten to

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the point I can't really chew on that side anymore.

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It feels like the whole tooth's about to fall apart

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if I press on it too much. I'm pretty sure

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that wasn't in the instructions, not that I could have

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read them anyway. It's not just uncomfortable anymore. It's painful.

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It keeps me up at night. Sometimes. I know I

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should get it looked at, but you know me too stubborn,

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and if I'm honest, I don't really trust anyone over

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here to get it right. It makes me nervous just

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thinking about it. Do you think this is normal? Is

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this what happens if you mess it up? Or is

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it something worse? Let me know when you can, love Claire.

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It was in that moment that I became aware of

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how hard my jaw was throbbing beneath a molar. I

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pressed my tongue against it without thinking, and I felt

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it shift to me to the point where I froze,

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and I sat very still for a long time, let

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the polls drag out, slow and thick through my jaw.

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Then energy surged through me, and my fingers moved. Before

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I thought about what they were doing, I pulled up records,

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checking dates, dragging appointments onto the screen one by one, Collins,

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the girl, me, and then Missus Graham the first to

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receive one of the new fillings. All of us were

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patched from the same shipment of cheaper supplies than knot

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in my stomach tightened as I scrolled through the invoices,

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the dates lining up too neatly. Every name, every filling,

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every order. It sat there in black and white, plain

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as anything, every one of them. My jaw thropped harder,

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like something was still working its way through bone, slow

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chewing its way out. I thought of Missus Graham and

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picked up the phone. Pulling over details from the system,

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I dialed a number and waited for the tone to connect. Hello,

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Missus Graham, it's David from the surgery. Just a quick

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call about your recent filling. Nothing to worry about, but

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we've started running a new patient care initiative that involves

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follow up routines for anyone who's had recent work. Just

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making sure everything's settling properly. Oh, she said, sounding a

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little apprehensive. No charge, of course, We're just trying to

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catch any small issues early before they turn into anything bigger.

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That's thoughtful of you. I was actually going to ring.

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It's been feeling a bit odd since I left. I'd

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like to have another lock, if that's all right. Could

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you come in later today. We've got a slot up

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when this afternoon. Yes, that's fine. Better to get it checked,

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isn't it exactly. We'll see you then. Missus Graham arrived

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later that afternoon, right on time. We exchanged the usual

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small talk while I settled her into the chair. Nothing

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out of the ordinary on the surface. Doesn't quite feel right,

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that one, she said, as I adjusted the light. And

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that's what we're here to check, I said, giving her

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the practiced reassuring smile. I called Kelly in from sterilization.

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She slipped on gloves without question and took up a

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place at my side. Composite failing again, she asked under

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a breath, No, just the follow up, I said. I

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numbed the area, waited until I was certain Missus Graham

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couldn't feel a thing. Then I worked carefully, easing through

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the surface of the filling. It crumbled under the bur

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in soft, unexpected flakes. Beneath it, the dentin looked pale,

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almost pourus hollow in places. Kelly shifted beside me, leaning

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in to watch. Looks the same as Collins, she said,

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keeping a voice level. I irrigated the cavity as she

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suged and cleared the debris. As I leaned closer with

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the mirror, something small and pale. It was moving. Kelly

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I said, quietly, pass me the explorer. She did without comment,

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though I felt a breath hitch as she saw it too.

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I nudged the lava free. It was tiny, embedded right

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where the pulp should have been. Kelly's widened eyes flicked

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between me and the thing writhing faintly on the tip

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of my tool. She kept her composure barely. Missus Graham

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still had her eyes closed, blissfully unaware. Get the container,

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I said, steady as I could manage now. I've never

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seen anything like that, she whispered as she passed it over.

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Neither of ee, I said, placing the lava inside with

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careful precision, snapping the lid shut before I could shift again.

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We both sat there for a moment longer than necessary,

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watching it curl and flicks against the plastic. Kelly's gloves

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creaked faintly as she tightened the grip on the edge

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of the tray, as if bracing herself against the reality

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of what we just found. My tongue pressed instinctively against

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my own molar. I felt it again, the faint shift

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beneath the enamel. The realization settled hard in my chest. Collins,

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the little girl, Missus Graham, Claire me. I swallowed hard,

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tasting the metallic tang of fear crawling up from the

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back of my throat. Kelly remained speechless, ignorant to the

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real reason the lava was there. I need you to

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head over to Marston's, I said, quietly, leaning in close

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enough that Missus Graham wouldn't overhear. See if they'll sell

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you a filling pack. Say it's for a rush case.

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Do whatever you have to. Kelly blinked at me, confused.

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We've got more in the vault plenty. I don't want

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what's in the vault, I said, just trust me on this,

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go beg if needed. Missus Graham shifted slightly in the chair,

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but kept her eyes closed, still arm still unaware. Kelly hesitated,

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then gave a single nod, stripping off her gloves as

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she left. She returned five minutes later with a fresh

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kit in hand, looking relieved and a little flushed. They

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didn't ask questions, just happy to take the money, she said,

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didn't even check what I needed it for good, I said,

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I'd to get a patch stop. We worked quickly and

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cleanly with the new materials. The tooth was lined, filled

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and polished to a shine. Missus Graham sat up, feeling

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better than she had when she walked in, and thanked

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us both politely. Feels loads better already. She said it

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was worth coming back in. I smiled and sent her

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on away. When the doors shut behind her, Kelly turned

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back to me. All right, she said, what the hell

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is going on? I opened my mouth to answer, but

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I struggled to find where to start. It was in

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that moment that I felt a snap in my mouth.

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It was sharp and sudden, like a tooth was splintering.

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Kelly's expression shifted from confusion to horror. As I lurged

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forward over the tray. My hand climbed to my jaw

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like I could hold it in place. Stop it somehow,

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Open your mouth, Kelly demanded. I obeyed, prying my jaw

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apart through the pane. Kelly angled the light, leaning closer,

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and then recoiled momentarily. Her breath hitched sharply, gloves trembling

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as she adjusted the mirror. Oh my god, she said,

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not calm any more. It's moving. I can see it.

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It's chewed through. It's bigger. I let out a horrified groan,

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jaws straining open while the hands were still in there,

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I couldn't speak. All I could do was make that

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awful sound as the pain sharpened. Hold still, she snapped.

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I felt the gnawing scrape inside the tooth, the way

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the enamel fractured inward as something forced its way out.

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The pain bloomed hot and raw beneath the gum. Before

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I could brace for it, I felt it push and

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a crack as it forced its way out through the enamel.

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Pain blared sharply and deep through my jaw, worse than

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any abscess I'd ever treated. Kelly grabbed the explorer, and,

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without waiting for me to flinch, hooked it in and pulled.

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I felt the pressure ease in a rush of warmth

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and blood. Something white, wet and writhing slipped free under

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the tray with a soft, awful sound. We both stared

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at it. There was another lava, bigger, this time slick

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with blood and pulp. Kelly looked at me, wide eyed,

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her face blanching beneath a harsh surgery light. Geez, oh God,

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she said, breath catching sharply. What the hell have we

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been pulling into people's mouths? I couldn't answer. I turned away.

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Half stumbling to the sink and threw up. When I

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finally came back for air, Kelly was still staring at

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the tray, pale and silent. I wiped my mouth, my

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hands shaking, and crossed back to the computer. I poled

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up the website where it placed the order Refresh, Refresh again,

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nothing eer screen page not found. I checked the invoice

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and grabbed the box from the bin. A phone number

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was printed in small, pale type beneath the logo. I

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dialed it. The line rang once twice, then a dull,

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automated voice cut through. The number you have dialed has

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not been recognized. Please check and try again. I tried

356
00:26:29,279 --> 00:26:35,359
twice more, same message, same dead tone. I sat back,

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staring at the box, the screen, the number, as if

358
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something would change if I looked long enough. There was

359
00:26:43,519 --> 00:26:47,519
no trail left to follow. How did they even get listed?

360
00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:52,039
How did they pass themselves off as legitimate? The package

361
00:26:52,079 --> 00:26:56,680
had looked cheap, yes, but not dangerous. There had been

362
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no warnings, no red flags, no reason to question it

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beyond the usual distrust that came with buying cheap. They

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sent extras, They'd been polite, efficient, and now nothing. Half

365
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the world away using the same kit, I'd scent Claire's

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jaw hurt with one of those things inside of her teeth,

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eating away at the enamel from the inside out. I

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pressed my fingers hard against my temples and felt the

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pulse through my jaw, and in that moment I felt

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utterly helpless.