This is what my dear dentist had to tell me that morning. "You see, you can compare it to a porcelain teacup which has a very small crack in it. Perhaps it could be that the crack is very, very small and not visible to the human eye, but it is there nonetheless, I can assure you. As time passes and you keep pouring yourself yet another cup of tea, the crack will get bigger each time the teacup is used. Now, you could choose to do nothing about it if you feel it does not bother you, but in the end the crack will get big enough that a piece of the teacup will break off altogether. It is up to you really." But that is not my question, in fact I had not even asked a question in the first place. Also, I never drink tea and have never been a real tea drinker type of person. Typical how dentists do not listen very well to the patient. They just go off into the clouds on these weird tangents trying to explain such complicated matters as cracks in teeth by comparing them to porcelain teacups. As if I am some moron, who cannot figure things out if they are described in adult terms. By gosh, I went to the university and have a diploma to prove it. I will have to bring a copy of my diploma with me for my next dentist appointment so that I can show him the proof. How dare he treat me that way! All I had said was that this pain I was having in my bottom right molar had started in the first place when he had replaced the original filling. At the time he claimed that it was getting too old and turning blue along the edges which meant it was time to replace it before something more major came up. Ironically, by actually replacing this filling, rather than preventing potential problems as he claimed, it had caused a major problem, namely this aggravating pain I had been having for the last two years. But the dentist would not listen nor admit that perhaps his previous treatment could have ever possibly caused this pain of mine. Could even be just a mental thing for all he could care about. No, I was certainly mistaken. I had later on more than likely bitten on something really hard, a seed or piece of bone or walnut shell, and this is the cause of all my misery. He held up his forefinger and thumb to my face holding the imaginary piece of whatever it had been. I could almost see it he was so convincing, at least he thought. When I tried to explain things chronologically using facts and events and dates, he did not want to listen. Instead he went on and on about this porcelain teacup episode. In the end, I just let it happen in order to avoid a major conflict. When I left I stopped by the reception and made an appointment to have my filling replaced and this (mental) crack of mine fixed. Life is like a teacup, isn't it?