slosh down the pepper!

Jab me with loads of anaesthesia.. please!

Exhibit 1: The root, with pieces of gum still stuck onto it. Looks like two shapely voluptuous thighs fused together.

Exhibits 2 - 4: Black part denotes decay. Exhibit 3 has a hole that holds a well of blood. I suspect it's Exhibit 3 that fell onto me as Doc tried to dredge it out of the gum - it looks bloody.



After a wait of 2 weeks, the ordeal arrived at 2.30pm, with me standing outside the clinic with its door shut closed. Nurse and Doc haven't come back from their lunch yet. I had to walk around the market for 10 minutes before lugging myself back to the clinic.

3.00pm. Doc finally got ready and I was motioned by Nurse to enter the "surgery theatre". Two trayfuls of surgical tools & a couple of syringes! Within 5 minutes of lying down, Doc flashed out a syringe with a 5 - 6 cm long needle! Before he could insert that into my mouth, I rem. TB and Piglet have some form of analgesic balm applied to the gums to lessen the pain of the jabs. Immediately, I requested for that and he dutifully brought out a yellow container with a pump and sprayed it into my mouth. Though I felt the numbess immediately the spray landed, I still felt some form of pain as he injected multiple jabs of anaesthesia. And one or two final ones to "top up the dosage", he called it to be.

I couldn't help it but asked him about the big fat white-colored syringe in the tray. I was so glad that that was merely a tool used to clean the mouth, and not a jabbing one. As he waited for the numbness to come into effect, he described to me the 'plan' - to section the root and the crown into two; to clean up the cavity in the neighbouring molar and fill up the hole temporarily before deciding if I should go for root canal treatment.

He took out a scalpel-like tool and started digging. I can hear my tooth disintegrating as it produced a crushing sound akin to that of shards of glasses rubbing against grains of sand. This continued for 5 to 10 minutes. Horrible! "Now I am going to slice the tooth" It made me jumped a little. Didn't all those previous movements amount to a slice? I wondered if I will feel better if he didn't bother to describe to me each step.

After the slice, I felt some kind of clipper tugging at my tooth. Nurse held my face still as Doc pulled out the reluctant tooth. I hate to feel the pressure; it brought with it anticipation of the creaking sound and associated pain with each twitch. 5 - 10 secs later, the lost first-half of hte sliced tooth landed on my shirt! Hehe, but the second-half of the crown didn't.

Ok.. now the roots. He started to do some drilling and slicing of the gum. This time round, I cannot feel any tug or pressure as he pulled out the remaining roots. More drillings on the adjacent molar. The drillings kept me worried of any pain, in fact throughout I was so worried that his hand might slip and my entire molar is gone.

In my anxiousness to get it over and done with, I didn't ask Doc if the cavity can be repaired with normal patching. I certainly don't wish to undergo another horrid procedure to drill holes and clean out the nerves.

Finally, the stitching. This is the only step that I didn't shut close my eyes. I was rather surprised when I realised the 3 stitches were done up one by one, instead of a continuous effort. Yes, Doc's right; I am very fearful of dentists. I supposed he would have figured it out by simply looking at the number of ugly amalgam fillings in my mouth. He probably upped the dosage of the painkillers after seeing my frowned face throughout the 45 minutes.

5.00pm - 7.00pm: the worst! The pain turned intense as the anaesthesia wore off. I regretted not eating the painkillers earlier! I am suffering whatever Doc had said I might - sore throat on the right side of the throat, pain on the operated parts & slight swells on the cheek. I am beginning to appreciate the tool that was used to suck up the excess saliva in my mouth though it made the lips very dry. With each swallow, I sensed pressure at the stitched parts and scared that the stitches will break and blood will start to ooze out... Very hungry yet I can't open my mouth to eat!

7.30pm: decided to drink milk using a straw intead of solid food. That way, I can even save on washing my teeth! But my plan failed as much as the Doc's (he finally dredged out everything in 4 pieces); I turned to bread as a filler.

8.00pm to 9.00pm: took me this long to finish up two slices of bread and two cups of milk. Nurse didn't call as she said she will. After the meal, I felt no longer the pain, but just only the swollen-ness. I deducted that it must be psychological make-up pain earlier on. :)

... ... ... who said wisdom tooth op don't hurt? As much as the pain lasted for one to two hours, it's still PAIN!

posted by slingwoof @ 5/02/2006 09:29:00 PM