HW6: Dental Flaws

Yesterday when I went to the dentist, I remembered a story that my father told me when I was a kid. The story was all about my father's uncle who happened to be a dentist. One day, while he was drinking with his friends, a guy came in to his clinic and asked him if he could pull the guy's tooth off because it was badly hurting him. The man begged him because his tooth was aching for several days. The dentist without any hesitation grabbed his clothes and told the man to wait inside the clinic while he was preparing his kit.

The dentist went to the clinic and saw the man sitting on the dental chair. He asked the guy which tooth was about to be pulled, so the man pointed which one hurts. The dentist grabbed his syringe and started to inject anesthesia to the mouth of the man. When the anesthesia took effect, the operation started.

It took the dentist about an hour to pull the man's tooth off. The man was very thankful that the operation was finally finished. He paid the dentist and then eventually went home.

The next they the man ,whose tooth was pulled, came rushing to the clinic and is looking for the dentist once again. The dentist saw him and said: "what's the problem? Is your teeth okay now?", the man replied "No! You pulled the wrong tooth!". They both began to laugh because they can no longer return the wrong tooth which was pulled.

When I got home, I quickly looked for an article which will provide me an idea whether alcohol  really affects a person's performance or not. I searched through the net and found the article: "ALCOHOL'S DAMAGING EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN." It was written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The article says that "Large quantities of alcohol, especially when consumed quickly and on an empty stomach, can produce a blackout, or an interval of time for which the intoxicated person cannot recall key details of events, or even entire events"

Besides the fact that alcohol could make our brain relax and unconscious for a while, I agree that alcohol will more likely to have a quicker effect if it is taken in an empty stomach. The reason behind this is that our body will directly consume the alcohol without any other substance  to moderate it. I also remember the fact that if you will eat oily foods you will have a greater tolerance of alcohol because the oil and fats are covering your stomach walls which slows down the consumption of alcohol.

Blackout could also be a reason why a drunken person performs in a poor way. Blackouts are common among social drinkers and should be viewed a result of acute intoxication. People who experienced the blackout often say that when they wake up after a heavy drink, they cannot remember anything that happened last night or even the very place which they went.

Maybe the reason why my father's uncle pulled the wrong tooth is because he had a temporary memory gap and cannot recall which tooth was reported to be aching by his patient. Luckily his patient did not get mad because if he filled a case against my father's uncle, it could cause him his job because it is unprofessional to work under the influence of alcohol.