So today I had a wisdom tooth extracted and it’s been coming for a while, but I’ve been trying to ignore it because I’ve never had a tooth extracted before. I have memories of watching my sister have all of her wisdom teeth removed when I was maybe eight or nine. And memory being what it is, it’s warped the memory in to her being strapped on a Sci-Fi kind of torture table in the middle of big showy futuristic room and the dentist being some Nazi torture doctor. Naturally then I had problems facing my extraction.
I was tempted to ignore it even though my local dentist arranged the appointment with a big hospital for me. I thought I could just not go but I would probably have problems later on due to this annoying tooth growing in the wrong direction. So common sense prevailed. Last night I didn’t sleep well with dreams about how painful it might be or the terror of being in the chair. This morning I could hardly eat breakfast because I was so nauseous with anxiety. Part of me also hit a ‘fuck it’ stage and I just wanted to get it over with.
As usual though things were not as expected. I arrived a little bit late due to bus problems, I had to sign in to multiple desks, it being a big hospital, and have my teeth scammed again. When I finally got to the dentist I was quite pleased with the receptionist, a very pretty lady and she seemed very compassionate with my anxiety. When I sat inside on the dentist chair I was pleased that the cute girl I’d seen wandering around was at my dentist ssation and she sat down to talk to me about the procedure and the risks and the things that I have to do to take care of myself afterwards. She was my dentist. I really didn’t mind lying back and gazing up at her as she stared into my mouth. Shame it wasn’t my eyes but mouth will do.
During the procedure itself I kept waiting for some sharp intense pain like when you drink something really hot or really cold and it gets in to your gums but I’m pleased to say that it never came. Even when the procedure went on for ages longer than it should and the local anesthetic started to wear off, the pain I felt was more of a dull distant ache and it actually became fun to imagine what they were doing inside my mouth. There was lots of drilling and hacking and pulling in to every now and then there was a crack as my tooth started to give away. Only problem was I was so tense for such a long time that I started to feel a bit dizzy towards the end of the procedure, and they had draped a surgical cloth over my face so only my mouth was visible and I started to feel like I was completely separated from the rest of the world. As the procedure went on it felt strange to imagine being outside in the real world again and that scared me a little.
Now it’s long after the procedure. I’m just getting ready for bed. The tooth hasn’t hurt much during the day; it’s only really when I eat. However it’s a little better than I thought it would be so I might not have much of an excuse to be lazy tomorrow.
Imagine 