| I had my wisdom tooth (upper left) removed yesterday. It was...quite an experience. [If you are about to have ur wisdom teeth removed soon, do NOT read on. Reader discretion is advised]
I've always had some sort of phobia in having teeth removed because of some childhood traumatic incident. I vividly remember the dentist bringing out this HUGE needle and stuffing it into my mouth and all the pain that came along with it. Ever since, I've tried my best to avoid having my wisdom teeth removed...until yesterday.
As I walked into the dental office with Angel (who was willing to be my lovely 'slave' for that day ;P), I was warmly greeted by the receptionist and was quickly sent into the room. I met the dentist who is about to remove my wisdom tooth and in her broken english, she asks," Do you know only how to speak english?" So I said,"Well, i can speak cantonese too." "Only cantonese? How about......mandarin?"she asks. "Uhh, wall kuh yee shraw ee deen deen." At the same moment, i think to myself "GREAT, i have a dentist who can barely communicate with me and can only speak mandarin." She giggles. >_< It only got worse from here on....
Soon, i was quickly put onto the dental chair, and she checks out my teeth. She touches my upper RIGHT wisdom tooth and says,"So, this is tooth we remove today right?" In horror, i quickly replied "UM, NO! Its the upper LEFT one!" She checks out the left side, and says,"OH, THERE it is. ok." I was a bit shocked to realize that the one who is about to remove my tooth DOES NOT KNOW which TOOTH TO REMOVE!! AHHHHH! trust me, she wasn't joking. Then she says," Well, me think you shoulda remove the right side too." So after a bit of explaining, i agreed to have the right side remove too. I mean, i think i eventually would have to go back there again to have it removed, so I might as well save an extra trip and to just have it removed now.
After a bit more inspection, she inserts the needle to freeze my gum. As she gives me the needle, I think to myself its not THAT bad so far and i quickly gave myself some positive thoughts. Pretty soon, she starts to wiggle and jiggle my tooth around, meanwhile, im telling myself that it'll be all over soon and how silly it was of me to be so afraid of it. All of a sudden, the dentist lets out a really DEEP 'SIGH'. A note for all the future dentists out there, NEVER let out a SIGH while operating on a patient!! Apparently, the tooth was not going anywhere, so then the dentist goes off and brings back some MORE tools. Pretty soon, the dentist was wiggling at my tooth so hard, that the assistant had to use both of her hands to hold my head down. At that moment, I'm trying to not think about what is happening and entertained myself by thinking of other more interesting thoughts. After a while of going nowhere, she says that she needs to cut my tooth, and I was like OOhhhh boy. Let me tell you one thing, the smell of a tooth being cut up does not smell or sound good at all! I felt bits and pieces of my tooth in my mouth, and the assistant quickly uses a vacuum to suck it up. Oh yah, throughout this entire process, the dentist is saying all these things in mandarin to me. If her hands and other tools were not in my mouth, i would've been shouting out,"I don't speak mandarin...remember???!!!" So I had NO idea what she is doing to my mouth throughout the entire operation.
When i thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse, she starts to use these even bigger pliers and tries to stuff it into my mouth. It doesn't fit, so she stretches my mouth to a size that i never knew my mouth can reach. It was stretched so wide, that my lips are all swollen now, and the left side of my lips are all cut and ripped. That part was the most painful experience i've ever endured. It wasn't the actual removal of my tooth that hurt, it was the stretching of my mouth. At that moment, i was in so much pain, that i seriously wanted to push them all away and to call it quits. I mean, if it was so difficult to get it out, i should've gone to a specialist instead and to have been put under, at least i didn't have to suffer this much pain.
Another thing, as if i didn't know HOW much blood i was losing already, the dentist got some blood on her thumb, and she dangles it right over my eyes as she operates on the tooth. So there i am, staring at my blood stained all over her thumb. Thats not exactly the best way to make a patient feel better. Future dentists, remember its not a good idea to show your patient's own blood to them.
The dentist constantly 'sighed' to relief her frustration, and keeps on telling me that its not coming out. Well, HELLOO! I KNOW its not out yet! But after what seemed like an eternity of wiggling, cutting, pulling, stretching and soaking up blood, she finally pulled it out. And of course, at that moment, i didn't know that it was over, because she was STILL speaking to me in mandarin. The assistant uses a wet napkin and wipes all the blood off that was splashed over my face and shows me the tray of tools that was used to remove that tooth. Apparently they brought out almost ALL the tools they had to remove it. It was finally over. It took a bit over two hours to have that ONE tooth removed.
Fortunately, when everything was over, I had such a wonderful slave to help look after me. It made everything a MUCH better experience. Oh, and she made me the BEST (and thickest =P) congee ever. Thanks Dr.Angel!
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