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Summary

A dentist searches for the perfect photograph to illustrate a dental accident involving a sugarcane crusher and reflects on the challenges and ironies of safety and modernization.

Abstract

In the article, the author, a dentist, recounts the quest to find an authentic image of a sugarcane crusher with a hand crank to accompany a story about a dental accident. Despite the prevalence of motorized crushers in Jamshedpur, the author eventually finds a traditional hand-operated machine in Ranchi, capturing the exact type of crusher responsible for a patient's dental injury. The patient, attempting to assist the juice seller, was struck in the teeth by the crusher's hand crank, resulting in significant dental expenses. The author uses this experience to highlight the importance of safety and the irony of a dentist discussing past accidents while observing potential ones, such as helmetless children on a scooter. The article concludes with a reflection on the nature of assistance, suggesting that mechanical upgrades for the sellers would be more beneficial than manual help.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the story of the dental accident was incomplete without a visual representation of the cause, emphasizing the importance of authentic imagery in storytelling.
  • There is a subtle irony noted by the author, who, as a dentist, talks about past dental accidents while observing potential accidents happening in real-time.
  • The author shows concern for safety, particularly in the context of dental accidents and road safety, as evidenced by the mention of helmetless children on a scooter.
  • The dentist feels that the best way to help sugarcane juice sellers is not through manual labor but by providing them with mechanical upgrades, such as motors for their crushers.
  • The author expresses a sense of nostalgia or historical interest in the traditional hand-operated sugarcane crusher, likening it to a "museum piece."
  • There is a hint of self-awareness and humor in the author's realization that the seller might have found the author's interest in the old machine peculiar.

Sugarcane Crank to Teeth — The Unequal Contest

Imagination, aided by photographs

Sugarcane juice seller crushes sticks of cane to extract the juice. Author’s image.

Last week, in Five Dental Accidents to Avoid, I talked about how a patient of mine had the crank lever of a sugar cane crusher come back and hit him in the teeth.

Even as I wrote it and shared pictures of chipped teeth made all whole again by the magic of dental restoratives (and me), I felt that the story was incomplete without a picture of the crusher itself.

I looked around town for a picture of a sugarcane juice crusher but this was the best I could do.

A woman rides on a scooter with three kids on it, two on the pillion, and one on the footboard. The child riding the pillion immediately behind the woman is wearing a helmet, as is the woman, but the other two kids are helmetless. There is a sugarcane juice stall behind the scooter. The stall has two waiting customers who are watching the seller drag the crushed sugarcane between the teeth of the crusher. The crusher is attached to a motor with a belt. Author’s image.

This photo captured four people on one scooter, only two of whom had helmets on. It was in an article on how to avoid dental accidents so there was a subtle irony there, of the dentist(me) who talked about accidents that had happened; like the weird sugarcane juice crank, but not about those that might; like these helmetless kids on a scooter. As a guide to how the crank-to-shattered-teeth accident had happened, however, it was not a useful picture.

Wherever I looked in Jamshedpur, I saw sugarcane juice sellers with motors attached to their crushers, making their lives easier. Their money will flow in as fast as the juice flows out. However, it did leave me with the nagging feeling that my article needed a picture of a sugarcane crusher with a hand crank.

Sugarcane juice seller with his machine. A bag of crushed sticks is visible in the foreground. Author’s image.

On our trip to Ranchi, which is 80 miles away from Jamshedpur, Vikesh and I spied this seller with a hand crank. I took a picture right away. The seller was bemused. I told him, hand-operated machines are a rarity, which is why I want a picture.

I suppose I should have been kinder. He probably thinks now, “The crazy lady with the huge phone thinks my machine is a museum piece worth photographing.”

Sigh. I hope the person going around upgrading all the Jamshedpur sellers’ machines reaches Ranchi and gets him a motor, too.

That aside, now that I have a picture, you can see the ball end of the hand crank my patient smashed his front teeth against.

For those of you who haven’t read the other story, my patient was in a hurry to get his glass of juice and he tried to help the sugarcane seller crank the juice out. The ball came back to hit him in the teeth, result: he needed three root canals $45 each, and three caps, $63 each.

The sugarcane juice seller heaves against the rotary lever to crush the sticks. Author’s image.

As I waited for the seller to crush the sugarcane for my juice, I realized that my patient wasn’t as much in a hurry as a Good Samaritan who was trying to help the seller who was fatigued from cranking.

I wanted to help the juice seller too!

However, I think that if someone wants to help a sugarcane juice seller, they should help buy them a motor, not help them manually.

Collage picture of teeth, with a before picture of a chipped tooth which has been made whole again by dental restoratives in the after picture. Author’s image.

Else, this could happen!

India
Life Lessons
It Happened To Me
Photography
Teeth
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