Zinda Revisited!!

Well it was the time when I have had enough of chocophobia because of the severe dental problems I had during my stay in UK. Chewing has become a labour while chocolates and sweets a taboo. I had already made up my mind to finish off this problem one and for all.

My dentist took a couple of X-rays and told me that I would be spending nearly 12 k on my dental treatment, 7 ceramic teeth and 2 teeth extraction: one of which was just barely visibly at the top of the gums. So a date for the extraction of one of the tooth was fixed and the date was 22nd August, 2006.

When I went to his clinic, he rinsed my teeth with a pressure jet. Since I Am already experienced in this tooth extraction I thought there would be nothing new to me. But there was. The same procedure was the same. He took a syringe and inserted it in gums to give me a local anesthesia; worse for me it didn’t go well, so he went for another shot of anesthesia.

In just 2 minutes, I lost the sensation in the left portion of my mouth. I was able to just feel the tooth with my tongue but the sensation in the lips was all gone and I was having difficulty speaking. He asked me not to chew my lips if you are not able to feel them and I think he did advise right since one would tend to do that if not advised against. Since I was to have a bridge of 4 teeth to go over the extracted tooth, he first drilled the two adjacent teeth by 2 mm roughly. I couldn’t feel anything and he was using a pressure jet of water along with the cutter so that took away a lot of sensation as well.

I just inspected my teeth after the drilling operation in the mirror and now there would be a space, distinct and visible to an outsider, no matter how hard I grind my teeth together. Well then came the most interesting/weird part. He asked me to lie down, put on the light and told me that if it pains just lift your hands and I’ll stop. He started struggling with my teeth but was not able to either get a good trip on the teeth or penetrate the gums because the teeth wasn’t solid at all; it was like the grid of pebbles by the riverside. I had the mirror in my mind and had an urge to see what’s going on.

Although getting a good angle for the mirror in my left hand was difficult, I tried and eventually got one. He was still struggling with my teeth. Then suddenly, he was successful. Either a nerve or a tissue had been ruptures and blood started coloring my gums, adjacent teeth and tongue and since my head was a bit slant, the blood mixed with saliva started collecting at the site of the teeth, rising in volume slowly to eventually touch the gums, where it would shine in the light distinctly. He paused and said, “Don’t try to look at this, sometimes it gets more painful if you look at yourself being operated upon”. He later told me this is told to them in one of their psychology classes.

Then he was back at his job and I was on mine. I remember that in the childhood when I went for my first injection the doctor’s assistant asked me to look the other side. I did because he asked me to but I didn’t like that he said that. But when he was about to give me one, I turned my head and focused on the spot where he was giving the injection. It was over in a couple of seconds. But this wasn’t.
Finally he pushed out (and not pulled out) the fragments of teeth by creating enough depth in the gums to reach the fragment’s base and then push it out from there. While he was pulling out the teeth, I wasn’t thinking about the blood, rather thinking what it would feel like if I didn’t have the anesthesia but since the sensation of pain was all gone, I was thinking that had I been in his place I would be rougher with the operation. The teeth had troubled me a lot and I’d trouble the fella a lot in this farewell operation.

But the whole blood thing and pushing the tooth out and the doctor struggling with most of his physical strength registered in my mind reminded me of Zinda where Sanjay Dutt pulls out a teeth of a fellow with a hammer. Some call it psychotic some weird, what’s your take??

Update: I am about to undergo another tooth extraction on 30th August, 2006. It will be lot scarier and greater a war since its the last tooth on the upper jaw on RHS. One hour appointment has been reserved for this. And unlike the last time where the tooth was a little into the gums, this is very firmly embedded in the gums and one wall of it outside it not there. So another big tussle. Thinking what new will it be this time. Will blood start dripping drop by drop and if it happens to land outside on my face, will it start trickling down forming a weird pattern!!