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There are no wrongs and rights when it comes to mourning. After the death of a family member, grief comes in different ways to everyone who’s affected. For some, that may be the urge — or in this case, the custom — to keep the deceased person’s tooth in a pocket.

Reddit user DeathTeethStory took to the platform’s popular ‘AITA’ thread (which stands for am I the a** hole) to consult her husband’s strange family ritual with the online community.

The woman said: “My husband’s family has an extremely bizarre set of rituals surrounding death and funerals.

“They’re from Wales, but I don’t think this is a cultural thing and I haven’t been able to find a basis for it or even anything remotely similar from a cultural/religious background.”

Before burying the corpse of their deceased relative, they have all of their teeth knocked out.

“They will give one tooth to each of their living relatives to keep with them in a fabric pouch which they’re meant to keep with them.

“They even have a system for how they decide which family member gets which tooth based on their proximity to the deceased.”

The teeth the deceased have collected themselves throughout their life are added into a chest that is filled with thousands of human teeth.

The woman learned about the tradition at the funeral of her husband’s grandmother’, where her mother in law gave her a pouch with one of her molars.

She said: “My husband got very upset when I told him I didn’t want to participate in this ritual.

“At the time, I was only talking about not wanting to carry around his family member’s teeth, but evidently it’s expected that after I die they’ll knock out my teeth to be distributed to the family members.

“He asked me whether I would really deny my children the ability to have something to remind them of me after I pass away or to feel left out from their cousins.”

The family is lovely, the woman insists, but to her, the ritual is just “insane”.

She concluded: “I don’t want my teeth knocked out and distributed to a bunch of random relatives, and there’s no way in hell that my side of the family will understand or accept this.

“AITA for not accepting this? Based on how our last conversation went I think he’s considering divorce.”

Reddit users have mixed opinions on the situation, but most seem to understand the woman and to think that she is not the a** hole.

One user commented: “For me, the weirdest thing is that he feels so strongly about it that he’s considering divorce because she won’t consent to having her future corpse’s teeth knocked out.”

Another one said: “NTA and this is a whole other level of weirdness to me. They have a chest… filled with thousands of teeth of their deceased. This is deal-breaker level bizarre, at least for me.

“You need to think about the bigger picture too. He brings up kids, so you guys clearly want them. What if, God forbid, something happens and your child dies? He’s going to knock out their teeth.

“Are you okay with that? Because I sure as hell wouldn’t be as a mother.”

Others users were quick to jump to her husband’s defence, with one saying: “I agree. It’s weird, but it isn’t unsanitary. It isn’t harming anyone. Maybe trying to understand the legend behind it might shed some light.”

How would you feel about carrying a dead family members’ tooth in your pocket?

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