Needles, Saws & a Swell Time

Caution: A long and possibly traumatising read ahead

Date: 16th December
Venue: Hougang Central Dental & Surgery
Time: 11.05am

My surgery was done. All the anguish and anxiety are over. No pain in my gums, but pain in my (CPF) wallet. It's a good 20 min of jabbing, sawing, jerking by the dentist, plus some tight squeezes in my palms and muscle-tensing in my shoulders. After that, it is a hell of swelling "good" time!

It started rather fast actually. Upon seated on the operation chair, I was immediately given 5 jabs of LA (aka Local Anesthesia). Next I was briefed on the possible consequences and side-effects of the operation while I begin to feel the full effect of the LA. The left side of my cheek is numb, and my tongue and airway felt swollen and constricted. Within two minutes, I saw the most dreaded weapon of mass torture and traumatisation, the extraction tool (or plier, whatever...) plunging straight into my mouth.

Jerk, twist twist and jerk, twist somemore and JERK! It's out, my innocent top left wisdom tooth. Innocent because it didn't cause any problem, but it was his brother below that was the culprit. Anyway, it sure was a huge (bloody) tooth that came out of my mouth. Yes! End of part 1.

The dreaded part 2: Instead of the extraction plier, it was a mini-saw that went in and started drilling and the sound it produced is comparable to those we hear from a house that is undergoing renovation. I'm serious!! The smell of sawn enamel was so strong that I felt like puking too. It was about a minute of drilling where suddenly I felt a little sensation of pain coming from the middle of that tooth. Without hesitation, I raised my hand and gestured for a pen and paper where I highlighted my situation. The dentist noted and ordered for another LA. Now this LA really hurts (not that the earlier ones doesn't, but not as much as this).

Next comes two minutes more of drilling and sawing before the extraction plier comes in again. Jerk jerk and more hard jerks and I started to worry whether if my lower jaw would just give way. Before I knew it, it is out!

Lastly, the dentist gave me some suturing and a thick fat gauze for me to bite hard on. That's it! My first tooth extraction in 20 years!

The dentist is a young lady possibly around my age. She spoke confidently and acts confidently too. I didn't ask how many years has she been in practice. Neither did I scout around for the "best" dentist (because I was too lazy I guess). Well her confidence won me over so... hey so what if she's new? I'm a new teacher too and if parents and pupils doubt my abilities, I certainly won't feel good too. Oh what the heck as long, as there's LA I'm more than comforted.

Right now as I type this blog, my left side cheek, tongue and lips are swollen. The pain seems to be coming as the LA is wearing off gradually. Yup, I had popped in 2 painkillers and am now preparing for the "aftermath".

Ouch!