Thursday, November 24, 2005

I Lost 2 Teeth!!!

Haha... Don't fret people. I did it willingly 'cause I'm wearing BRACES. At the age of 17 seems a bit late but better than leaving it later right?

Actually my dental appointment was on Nov 16 3.30pm. On that day I was feeling quite indifferent about having 2 perfectly normal and healthy teeth being pulled out. I told myself, ''Come on! It's just TWO teeth. No big deal!''

The clinic that I went is in CGH and there are quite a few dentists in that specialist clinic. I have a main one who is responsible for putting the braces. I think. hehe.. He explained what I would be doing for the day. Of course there was the extraction but first he put some tiny little blue rings in between the 3 teeth at the back, both the top and bottom row. This is to ensure that there will be sufficient space for some braces thing to be put in between the teeth. No idea what it's called. He warned that the teeth may feel tender. Not 'soft' but like a pimple which hurts even when you just touched it. After he placed them in between those teeth, they were feeling pretty ok. It just felt as if some food got stuck and you had the urge to pick it out.

Hmm.. So far so good! =p

Afterwhich, I was sent to another room where the extraction battle began...

While in the room, there came the Joker Doc, my nickname for him. Hehe... You'll know why later. As he was explaining the extracting process to my dad, I saw my X-ray photos of my all my teeth! BOY!!! IT'S SO DAMN COOL!!!

But are those REALLY my teeth?

The teeth on the X-rays aren't the same to what you see in your mouth everyday and night. The roots are around 2 to 3 times the length of that lil' portion you see in your mouth. So long!!!

Basically, I would be taking out one molar from the top and another one below. He was explaining the extraction process when...

Dentist: ''... As you can see, the top tooth is a bit crooked so we may have difficulty extracting that out. A possibility is that the root may fracture (which means there are still leftover pieces of teeth inside the gum). We'll try our best to scathe it out but if it fails, we'll need an operation..."

OMG!!! DID YOU SAY O-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N?

I was so freaked out! It was no more a calm and collected day for me. NERVOUS!!! Why did I persuade my dad in letting my wear braces? Did I make the right choice?

The dentist I had gotten was funny but professional and good. He was continuously joking with me so that I wouldn't feel so tensed up. Humorous dude! I admit he did calm me down a bit but I was still quite apprehensive. I had pretty much made up my mind to close my eyes throughout the whole process. I don't want to get freaked out again.

First to go was the anesthetics. I thought it would be a needle with a small little syringe. Surprise surprise. Before I managed to close my eyes, I saw this thin and long syringe, about the length of a 15cm long ruler. OMG! Was that totally necessary? Couldn't they use a smaller one? Without a hesitation I closed my eyes and hoped all that wasn't true.

Each tooth that was to be extracted had 3 jabs. The first 2 injections were pretty ok but the 3rd one I think he injected right to the root of the teeth and boy it hurts! And the anesthetics tasted like flu medicine. Funny...

After 6 jabs, I was told to rinse my mouth before he proceeded to the extraction. That was the first time I had anesthetics. Feeling curious if the jabs had worked, I went to touch and poke my lips while they weren't watching. True enough, they were numb. It felt as if you're touching something foreign, like it's not part of you're body. Cool!

"And she will be loved.. And she will be loved.." The song played in the background as I was preparing myself for the extraction.

As usual, I was too scared the witness the whole process and so I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I was all tensed up and the nurse beside me noticed it. She kept asking me to relax or else the tooth would take a longer time to come out.

Hmmm... Threatening me?

But yes. That sentence intimidated me. I admit it. I just want it over and done with. And so I tried my best to relax and focused my attention on the song. Good thing he had songs playing in his room. Thank you doc and maroon 5. lol...

First to go was the tooth on the bottom row. I had no idea what he used to extract my tooth but I just felt him moving my tooth to the right and then to the left with great force.

Dentist: "Ok. It's out."
Me: "It's out?"

The tooth was out just like that. JUST LIKE THAT! Cool! I was totally surprised that it just took like less than 10 seconds to extract one tooth and there was no pain at all. Trust me. You just feel the force of moving that tooth out.

After he placed the gauze on the extraction site, it's now on to the upper tooth which is the tricky one remember? The risk of a operation. Oohh... I don't want to think of that.

This tooth took a bit longer. He pushed it right, left and right again, with greater force than just now.

Oh... Please let it come out in one piece...

Walla, it's out! Whew! Thanks!

As I sat there biting on the gauze to stop the bleeding, he showed me my two teeth and my first reaction? They're long! Haha... And above all, I get to take them home! Cool!

I'm done! After saying thanks to the dentist and the nurse, I was told to wait for a while to check for excessive bleeding while arranging for my next appointment. I told the lady at the counter if the dentist for my next appointment would be the same one as today. I love that doc! He was so much fun and he really made the process less torturing than what I had in mind. BUT the lady told me he was standing in for another dentist for the day only.

Sad. Sad. Sad. Disappointment. Guess it can't be helped.

Well the nurse then inspected my wound and when she removed the gauze, my mouth tasted bloody. Yuck! It felt as if I was drinking blood. She put new gauzes on the wounds and I bit them hard to stop the bleeding. I figured out that I would not be able to have dinner that night and could not brush my teeth.

And true enough all came true but what bothered me the most was the bleeding just wouldn't stop. I was tasting blood all the time. And it was only until the next morning then it stopped bleeding. Whew! I was suspecting that I may have haemophillia. Maybe I have or why would it take like ONE DAY for the bleeding to stop?

The next few days were not good as well. Although the bleeding stopped and the gums didn't hurt, it was great trouble biting food. Hard food is a no no but I felt pain even when biting soft food. I guess that's the tenderness the dentist mentioned to me.

For two days I just had porridge with soy sauce! How ironic it is when I am able to afford better food than that. Luckily, I was able to resume my usual diet after 3 days even though there's a little pain each time I bite on to some food. But hey, at least I get to eat my favourite food so it's not that bad.. =p

Tommorow is the day when my next 2 teeth on my left will be extracted out. I feel so sianded just the thought of enduring the process again. Wish me better luck this time! =p

That's the price to pay to have a beautiful smile...

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