Posted February 1, Reviewed by Margaret Foley. My earliest memories of gum are from my prekindergarten days when there was no such invention as sugarless gum and no reason to think about what the sugar could do to my teeth. Perhaps the sugar eventually resulted in my mouth full of caps, crowns, root canals, and even an implant.
The only gum-related warning reminded me not to swallow the sweet, sticky conglomeration. My mother emphasized: "It will stay in your stomach and everything you eat will stick to it, so be careful. I was a visual child, so I imagined pink chunks of gum with protruding chewed fingernails. Of course, my grandmother reminded me not to "chew like a cow with its cud," so I hid my chewing whenever possible. The repetitive motion helped calm my nerves, as I could no longer bite my nails.
I chewed when I studied for a test and when I took the test. I chewed while reading, while watching television, and while doing almost everything. When I went out on a date, I learned to place the chewy substance on the inside of my cheek.
When I discovered that I was a fat year-old little girl, gum became a tool in my weight loss. Instead of eating, I chewed. Eventually, I skipped meals, and Trident sugar-free became my companion on my starvation journey. I could not walk by a gumball machine actually, I still can't without taking out coins.
One of my grandest gum memories is the gift surprise my mother gave me. She came home with a brown lunch bag filled to the brim with brightly colored one-inch-diameter gumballs. She filled the gumball machine with dimes and, in turn, filled up the bag with yellow, red, green, orange, white, and blue gumballs.
