1.8 cm by 0.6 cm

1.8 cm by 0.6 cm

That's the size of the sliver of scallop shell that pierced my tongue halfway through while I was eating the scallop from a Grilled Seafood Platter from Big Fish Restaurant in Siglap.

The broken shell was embedded in the soft area of the scallop, giving me no chance at all. As I bit in, I felt searing pain in my tongue. I felt something cut right into the tongue.

I spat everything out, analysed the spit and located the damning evidence.

Such lapses are UNACCEPTABLE at all times.

The swelling and the pain made me decide to visit the doctor although I had initially thought I could have forgone the trip.

The doctor was rather certain that there isn't any broken shell parts inside the tongue, though he was not that fully sure. Therefore, I was given a week's antibiotics to ward off any infection. If a hard growth develops in due time, he'll refer me to the dental surgeons for further investigation.

Saw the cut in the tongue just now - big enough, red enough, swollen enough. Small wonder the doctor was able to see it without even asking me where I was cut.

Sent the bill to the restaurant and the boss has reimbursed me.

Looks like the tongue, for all its destructive prowess, isn't indestructable.