I had to have a tooth extracted yesterday.
Before the procedure, the assistant asked, “Do you want to have your tooth after we remove it?”
I thought that an odd question and said, “Why would I possibly want to have the tooth?”
She laughed and said, “Believe it or not, many people want to keep their tooth after is it removed.”
She went on to say that her friend’s husband works for a veterinarian and people sometimes ask to keep their dog’s testicles after they get spayed.
Again, I asked, “Why?!”
She shrugged and said, “I have no idea.”
So, why would someone want to keep a rotting tooth (hence it being yanked from your mouth) or your dog’s testicles?
In some cases, superstition. A tooth is a part of you, and as such, can be used to attach hexes, curses, and jinxes to you. It’s the same reason some people burn their hair and nail clippings.
In others, people just think it’s nifty to have something that came out of your body around. Of course you’re going to get different answers from different people.
It’s probably just curiosity that makes people want to keep such things. I had a science teacher in high school who asked to see some organ (I think it was the appendix, but I’m not sure) after the surgery to remove it. They brought it out for him in a little jar. Of course that teacher also asked if he could get local anesthesia so he could watch them do the surgery :eek:. They didn’t do that.
On preview:
If I had been drinking something you would have owed me a new monitor.
I wouldn’t want to keep anything that was removed from me (where would you put something like that? On the mantle?) But, I’d love to see an organ that was removed. Actually, I’d love to dissect my own organs. That would be cool.
I should mention that I’m not superstitious about my body parts, not even slightly.
Mine were brown and not the least bit round. In fact they looked like D&D dice. I swear one was a 4 sider. No wonder they were causing pain. They had corners.
Really not pendant quality. Although maybe yours were better looking.
Mom kept her gall stones. I thought it was strange. But, the nurse informed me that most patients keep them. I think there’s a feeling of 'Ha! You’re out! I beat you!" mixed with “See how tough I am. I endured months of pain from these.”
I may just be a weirdo, but I’m one of them anthropology types, and I find teeth pretty fascinating. It’s cool to see them on a skull, because it gives you an entirely new perspective. Of course, I don’t get to see my OWN teeth like this, so the best I can do is keep them after they’re removed. Though unfortunately I forgot to ask to keep my wisdom teeth, so they discarded them.
You won’t get too many testicles from a spay procedure. That’s an ovariohysterectomy (ovaries and uterus removed). Removing testicles is neutering or more specifically castration. And I haven’t had anyone ask for their pet’s testicles ever in the past 27 years. I have had someone ask for their cat’s claws but once it was explained that they still have tissue attached they changed their mind.
