The Fellowship Of The Pigs

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

A Horrifying Trip to the Dentist
Harow piggies,

I just had a dental surgery today to extract two of my wisdom teeth, and boy was it a painful experience. Let me relate in details what I just went through.

Time: 9am
Location: National Dental Centre level 5

Before the surgery, I actually went for a tooth filling. It was basically a painless and blood free process. Some drilling and scraping (to get ride of the bacterial that had made my tooth their home) and application of a composite resin (to fill up the hole) and it was bye bye cavity! After that I proceeded to level 3 for my surgery.

Surprisingly it was rather crowded when I reached the place. I was flabbergasted that so many people in Singapore actually had dental problem. After a while I realized that many were just there to accompany their family members, probably giving moral support and calming them down before the surgery. Fortunately my dad took a half-day leave and I was able to have someone to talk to before the operation.

After a while the nurse at the counter called out my name and I bade farewell to papa. I was led into a changing room where I was instructed to put on a white cotton cap over my head (must make sure none of my hair was left in the dust-free operating room), a blue patient’s suit (kind of like an apron secured with strings at the back) and shoe protectors (blue plastics that can be worn over the shoes so that soil on my soles will not come in contact with the sparkling white marble floor). As I was putting on the suit, fear overcame me as I realized the gravity of the situation. This was not going to be a normal teeth extraction (a couple of years ago I had four healthy teeth extracted to make way for braces). My heart missed a few beat. I lifted my head to look at the reflection in the mirror and my senses came back. I looked like a moronic clown man! Haha sorry no photos to illustrate but u can imagine how absurd I looked in the outfit I just described above. As I was waiting for my turn in the waiting area, another guy came in. He was wearing t-shirt and shorts so when he wears the suit over his actual outfit you can only see his legs below the suit and it was a wonderfully funny sight! So I amused myself for a while before the doctor came out.

My palms were sweaty but I forced myself to look calm (si3 dou1 yao4 mian4 zi3). The doctor assessed my condition and briefed me on the procedures. After making sure that I was clear on the steps, I was ushered into the operation room. There was a dental chair, completed with dental unit and operational light in the center of the room. Besides it stood a tray filled with all sorts of gadgets.

The doctor wasted no time the moment I was properly adjusted on the chair. He took out this huge syringe and told me to open my mouth. Whatever that happened next was memorable. I could feel a stinging sensation as the needle was inserted into my gum and the anesthetic being pumped from the plunger. This was done for both sides of the lower gum. As my upper gum was thinner, it was more painful when the doctor anesthetized it. At one point the anesthetic ran out and the doctor had to re-inject on the same spot. I felt a burning pain as the doctor injected more anesthetic into the now raw and swollen gum. All the while I was digging my nails into my hand to keep myself from screaming. The pain must have shown on my face because after that the doctor apologized to me. Now I’m not condemning the professionalism of the doctor but my previous extractions were clearly less painful than this one. Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come.

The doctor left me for a moment while the anesthetic worked their wonders. I could feel numbness near my lower lips and tongue. Soon the entire lower right side of my face was numb. The nurses came in and told me they would now “prepare” me for the surgery -_- They cleaned my faces with some solutions and covered my body with a large green blanket. Then my entire face, apart from my mouth, was covered up with a smaller but similar material. Under the green cloth I could see the operational light shining through. (was I in heaven?) I awaited my doom.

Doctor evil returned with a sinister smile across his face. I could not see what happened but he told me to open my mouth, inserted something and asked “Any pain?” He was actually making a small incision around my gum to make sure that I was completely numb. I did not know this until the end of the surgery where I asked the nurse what happened just now. After that he lengthen the incision until the gum tissue can be pulled away from the wisdom tooth. Some instrument was then used to drill the surrounding bones in the way. I could feel a pressure on my tooth and hear the drilling noise from his equipment.

It was a totally nerve-wrecking experience. On one hand you know your gum is being sliced apart and something is being drilled into it. On the other hand you don’t feel the pain. I felt tiny drops of water fleck across my lips and saw that the cloth covering my eyes was stained red. Oh my god. I could not stand it. So I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself in some telly-tubby land. But I could not shut out the noise of drilling. It was unbearable. At that point, I pictured myself in ten years time at the gynecologist about to give birth to my first child and wondered how it would feel like. Then I thought “Wah my ma gave birth to three of us, some more the traditional way leh… Aiyo how did she tahan that!!”

My musing was again disturbed. The drilling had stopped. Doctor Evil had clam my tooth and was rocking it back and forth. But my stubborn little tooth was not about to give in without a fight. Doc heaved and pulled, rocked, shook, jerked, yanked, tugged, wrenched but the little tooth would not budge. In the end he drilled my little tooth into two and took them out piece by piece. Then he stitched back the gum tissue. Fortunately the other tooth was very cooperative and was out in no time! Yay!!

So now I have three pieces of my teeth soaked in bleach in the bathroom. A pity I don’t have a camera or I would have snapped a picture of them (in blood, bits of flesh and all) for your amusement. Hahaha… Okay gotta rest my gums now, till the next time piggies!

With pain,
Martial pig
Neo Chua Pig Plogged At 8:31 AM