So first, let me compress a long and boring story to its essential details so that I can get to my point more quickly. I hadn't been to a dentist in a shamefully long time. I still have my wisdom teeth as a result.
Well, a few weeks back I reached the point where I could procrastinate/ignore/overlook/whatever the dentist situation, because one of those wisdom teeth actually fractured. I now have about half a tooth back there. No pain, fortunately. But I have absolutely NO recollection of this actually happening. I only noticed it when I used my tongue to poke at some stuck food, and found what felt like a gaping hole back there. So yesterday, after (mumbles incoherently) years, I finally went to a dentist. Duh, they're going to take my wisdom teeth out, date yet to be scheduled.
Now we come to my point. In the meantime, I've basically been chewing all my food on the right side of my mouth. Which, I must say, has felt extraordinarily awkward. Only now that I'm trying to make do have I realized that I always begin chewing a fresh bite of food on the left side of my mouth. Well, we'll call it left-center.
So, this got me wondering. Do most people favor one side of their mouth over the other when chewing? Something tells me "probably so." But clearly this is an unconscious decision. So what informs it?
Informal poll, then. (And I expect you'll actually have to try to pay attention the next time you eat to come up with the answer.) On what side of your mouth do you start chewing your food? And do you have any theories as to why this might be?
2 comments:
Like you, I went far too long without seeing a dentist until something went wrong with a left-side molar. Between not wanting to chew over there because of the pain and needing to take it easy once the root canal/filling was done, I had to right-mouth it for the better part of a month.
It was awkward, but I'm not certain I'm a definite left-mouther. Just not being able to move stuff over there when I wanted to was awkward enough, along with how all the flavor (from a Dorito, for instance) would be congregated in the right side of my mouth while the left side said, "Hey, what about me?!?"
(And my dentist has been telling me I should get my wisdom teeth pulled too, but they're not bothering me, so I'm pretty "meh" about it.)
After grabbing a handful of test tortilla chips, it seems that I'm an ambidextrous chewer. Usually start on the right, but move to the left and back again. Although this could just be that I'm conscious of my chewing just now.
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