Tuesday, April 12, 2005

q: is there some particularly more dangerous and virulent form of gingivitis than what I am aware of?

An actual e-mail sent to a professor-friend in A Different Field and at A Different University:
Prof. [name deleted]:
I have not been going to work and I been leaving classes early. I have
gingivitis and the doctor told me is contagious,,however I cannot afford
to miss school or work. I cannot talk that much or be in contact with
other people for two weeks. I will go to class tomorrow but I wont be able to
make my presentation. I do not want to miss another class because I am
concerned about my grade.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You don't have to look far for confirmation. I had it when I was ten. I had to skip 2 weeks of school, mostly because it required painting my mouth daily with inky purple medicine. The MD felt that being seen in public in this way would traumatize me for life. And it is contagious, though not airborne, I don't think: they thought I got it from the school cafeteria. I wasn't likely to get it from kissing games. At that age. Terribly embarrassing, hence the pseudo-anonymous post.
--nlc

Anonymous said...

And to think I thought flossing and brushing could prevent the big G disease. Part of me still thinks it does. Ah-ha! I just checked a site on gingivitis and it says regular flossing and brushing is the best prevention. Plaque builds up and works its way into the gum line causing inflamation, etc. I am a skeptic when it comes to medical stuff and I can't help but wonder if an experiment of sorts was done done on the previous respondent? That purple gunk seems awful fishy to me, and why wasn't a Dentitst overseeing this procedure?? What would a kid know about such things? He/she would be told to accompany a parent and open their mouth and presto! some new drug is being tested. I wonder if the last respondent has any tics or tremors or anything like that, or eye/stomach problems?? Having a tic or minor fits usually indicates this sort of thing.

jnsys said...

I think this would be a good case for a doctor's note. Having 18 lab monitors who all seem to be particularly susceptible to a multitude of different maladies, I finally got to the point where they are allowed to find a substitute for only three different things: 1. exam scheduled during work hours, 2. vomiting and diarreah (ugh), and 3. Fever not produced by lightbulb. Otherwise, they are working.

Gingivitis is not on that list, but perhaps I will have to rethink. Of course, this would be far to easy to fake...

jnsys said...

too, I mean, too! (jeesh)

Anonymous said...

Anon 1: Um, when I was a kid we didn't floss, so perhaps you are safe. But on the purple die -- you have me worried. I have a number of oddities that I previously attributed to such dramatic events as falling off of slides, skiis and bikes (each causing breaks and I'm sure messing up the nervous system), but maybe it all dates back to the purple die.Ah well, if it meant that thereafter a cure was discovered for some dreadful disease, then who am I to argue with scientific experimentation performed on a overly spunky foreign-born kid? Or, do you suppose that they wanted to wash the red out of me -- hence the purple die? Oh, now I'm thinking that it was a spy thing!

Anonymous said...

Too quick to publish. That last was mine -- nlc.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't worry too much unless you have tics/tremors. Both are attributed to neurological research done on unsuspecting kids. The sterilization things done on Indians and Blacks is well known but WASP kids were experimented on as well. This stems from the space race the US and Russia engaged in. The Russians were producing kids with a better penchant for science type of things. Certain 'enhancements' were given to WASP kids since the government already believed Blacks and Indians were dumb. If you have done well, say in Statistics, this purple mouth business could well be when the drugs were introduced to you. Still, without tics you are probably not a victim.