Dentures and Decaf

Morning Cup and a Crown?

A coffee retailer in Germany has begun selling dentures and crowns alongside latte mugs and bags of beans.

The chain in question is Tchibo, a company infamous for offering a wide and often strange range of products for sale in its stores. Items such as pajamas or household appliances are commonly seen on shelves next to coffee-related paraphernalia.

The chain launched its false teeth offer last month in partnership with a dental appliances firm which imports them from the Philippines.

“It belongs to our concept which is to regularly offer our customers something surprising,” the firm said in a statement.

The discounts can be considerable, with a crown costing as little as €120 ($160 US) rather than the list price of €310 ($415 US).

The process works like this: The customer with a toothache fills in a form at the Tchibo shop and gets a reduced price membership at €24 ($32 US), and that membership discount can then be used via their dentist to order whatever is needed, be that a new tooth or even a full set.

Customers should check in advance if their own dentists are happy to work with the pieces they can buy when getting their coffee.

Mouse Teeth and Museli

A Swedish woman was left with a bad taste in her mouth when part of a mouse jaw showed up in her morning muesli and the grocery chain refused to compensate her for more than the cereal itself.

“Hi Ica! This morning I found teeth in your own brand Ica organic muesli,” Veronica Hammare, 22, wrote on the company’s Facebook page. “To find teeth in your muesli is more than revolting, especially as I didn’t just find them in the muesli but in my mouth!”

“When I called your customer service they told me I’d be compensated for the muesli,” she continued. “So I’ll get as much as 20 kronor because I bought your product and ended up with animal teeth in my mouth?”

The Metro newspaper on Thursday rounded up recent cases of Swedes finding inedible or just downright disgusting things in their food.

A family in Karlskrona found a nail in a packet of chicken sausages. Last year, in Norrköping, a woman found a dead frog in a packet of salad. Three years ago, a man in Lidingö found a dead mouse in his “Italian mix” salad from the Willys supermarket.

Hammare, meanwhile, said she did not accept that Ica would only offer her money back for the actual muesli, and is pressing for additional compensation.

–Dr. Shannon Norman-Kotre, Ann Arbor Dentist