At the Dentist

Due credit to the painfully painful toothache, I had to pay several visits to the Dental clinic. The voracious chocolate eater in me had contributed to all this. In the first appointment, the dentist will only check the decayed tooth, prescribe a pain killer and X Ray. The dentist clinic has posters of Do's and Don'ts for keeping the teeth healthy. There is silence even when the clinic is crowded because every patient is in pain so all do keep the mouth shut. The mouth consists of 32 teeth; fitted into two jaws; helping us chew the food. These teeth are divided into 4 sets of 8 teeth in each. The first two teeth are called incisors (rabbit tooth), the third one is canine (vampire tooth), the next two are pre-molar and the last three are molars (the last one is Wisdom tooth or Akkal Daadh). The X Ray was done; it was then I found that my wisdom teeth are under the gums. The dentist, Dr. Amita Daruwala, smiled at me looking through her glasses. "Your wisdom tooth is sleeping!. Such teeth structure used to be in ancestors!" I got a carnivorous feeling, and why not because most of my teeth are pointed and sharp. The poor tongue has to bear with the cuts if it ever slipped over those. Having done with the X Ray observations, the dentist concluded a Root Canal Treatment. Never ever skip any of the dentist appointments! This is because the time is specifically reserved for your treatment and missing it would delay the treatment and ultimately you will be in pain.

Day One: I had a proper lunch that day. You should go with stomach full because after treatment you shouldn't eat anything for the prescribed time. Why am I saying shouldn't? Actually you cannot! First I got seated on the patients throne (dentist chair). This chair has got a connected small wash basin and lights and a stand to keep the apparatus. The nurse kept all the apparatus in a line; I just remember that all of those were pointed. The anaesthesia injection was prepared and now I was scared. The Root Canal was to be performed on the 6th of the upper tooth on right side. I opened my mouth as wide as I could so that the injection gets injected at the correct place. Half of the injection was given in the gums (which was painless) and half was injected in the palate (which was immensely painful). In those very moments of pain I was cursing myself for not taking proper care of my teeth. The anaesthesia was in effect and I could feel nothing now. But I could still make out that she was scratching the whole tooth from within. I had to rinse my mouth every 30 seconds and I could see the decayed particles in pieces. The dentist drill is a medical instrument similar to the carpenter's drill, it noises the same way, but here liquid medicines are showered on the tooth. The complete tooth was cleaned and the hollow was filled with cement. The treatment was done for the day and I had a watery mouth and watery eyes. Medicines were prescribed and what to eat and when to eat was instructed and the next appointment date was booked. At home, when the anaesthesia effect was over the injected points pained like hell. I did manage to eat some rice by chewing through the left side teeth.

Day Two and Three: The treatment was similar on both the days. Worst to say was the treatment without anesthesia. The four roots of the tooth were scratched using pointed files (the dentist called it so). But for me those were no less than the stationery pins we use for pinning papers. Just imagine the pain of putting the pin in root of the tooth and scratching it rigorously. The mouth rinsing and medicine showering continued along with the scratching activity. The pain was growing till my head and through the neck to the toes. I went home with the cement filled tooth.

Day Four: I was more than happy with the fact that all the pain will end today. The cement filling was broken using the drill and the four roots were filled with medicated toothpicks. The rest hollow portion was filled with teeth like material and the treatment was done.

So this was a painful experience at the dentist clinic. Do share your experience if you ever had one in the comments.