90% of my nightmares are related to teeth... the rest I don't remember. I am terrified of dentists. I dream of my teeth falling off. And 3 weeks ago, that dream/nightmare came true. A much waited, much wanted, very much anticipated India trip turned into a medical trip. Three days into my dream vacation and my left cheek got swollen. The trip to the dentist confirmed my fears.. it was time to get rid of my excess wisdom (teeth). They apparently had no space to erupt normally and hence were coming out crooked. And since they had not yet erupted they would have to be surgically removed by cutting through the gum. The words "surgery" and "dental" in the same sentence were enough to send me into shock. 4 teeth to be removed in 1 surgery. The dream vacation had suddenly become a nightmare.
In the days till the surgery, I was behaving pretty much like a person enjoying the last few days of life. In my case, I ate n ate n ate (after all, eating good Indian food is one of the most important things to do on India trip :D). And this time my mom was actually encouraging the eating :D.
The D-Day was Monday, 12th January. By then I had mentally prepared myself (watching all the medical dramas had helped me I guess). The trick is to not attach much importance to it. The world wasn't going to stop. Everyone has to face it at some point in life. On a medical scale it is termed a "minor surgery". There will be anesthesia. The injections are but a needle prick. The pain later is unavoidable but then there are painkillers. And it will eventually go away. Its not a life-death surgery... people have gone through worse.
So I was all set to face the surgeon. And he too did not take much of my time. 4 teeth in under 40 mins..I didn't know our teeth can be removed that easily. The surgery was as painless as could be under local anesthesia. The only messy thing was dealing with the blood after the surgery.
But like after any tooth extraction..it was ice cream everyday for the first 2-3 days. The painkillers were doing their job properly and other than having a swollen face and eating food at 1/2 the normal speed I was doing fine. It was weird initially to feel the stitches inside the mouth but even that was ok after 4 days.
In all, it wasn't as scary as I thought. Everyone including my dentist thought I was brave to have 4 wisdom teeth removed at once. At least after this experience, I wont try to hide any tooth aches or find excuses to postpone visits to the dentist anymore.
Bitiya badi ho gayi!! (Courtesy Tamba)
