Not so long ago, I discovered that one of my wisdom teeth was looking black and had a pretty gaping hole (I had warned that it wasn’t going to be pleasant). After the initial shock, I decided a visit to the dentist was in order. Very optimistically, I expected him to do some general cleaning and say that my teeth are in perfect condition. I was also willing to pay him tons of money (alright whatever little that I have) to get this desired outcome.
I went to this clinic near my home for lack of knowledge of any better options. I sat in the waiting room flipping through some magazines and thinking about the time when I used to be scared of dentists. The idea of having unknown, sharp instruments in my mouth and a grim looking doc scared the hell out of me. But after a 4-year long orthodontic treatment with a great orthodontist, I began warming up to the idea of dentists not being bad people really.
Soon enough I was called in by a dark, skinny, Indian girl called Sheila. The dentist (I couldn’t catch his name, let’s call him Dr) came in briskly and said
Dr: What do you want me to do today?
Me: I am not sure (It is not for us ordinary people to tell doctors what to do. It’s for you to know!!) I think there is an issue with my wisdom tooth
Dr: What is the issue?
Me: It is black (Really, this conversation was bringing back all my fears about dentists)
Dr: Ok. Do you want to save it?
Me: Can you?
Dr: I am not sure
All of this conversation happened without even a glance at the tooth in question. There was now a huge pause with me not knowing if I made the right decision coming here and the Dr wondering if there might be some merit to examining the tooth after all.
Sheila tied a small white napkin around my neck in the way that you do for kids before their meal. She made me wear dark glasses apparently to shield my eyes from the bright light above. But I felt more scared then ever with the world around me in gloomy sepia colours. We all resigned to the fact there was nothing left to do now but examine my teeth. Dr and Sheila had a conversation about my teeth like I wasn’t present.
Dr: I see what she means. It is black
Sheila: Yes
Dr: I can fill the hole and save the tooth. But she will have to come back in 6 months get it extracted
Sheila: Ok
Dr: (mumbling) The wisdom tooth is at a difficult angle. All of them actually
Sheila: What
Dr: Nothing, keeping myself busy. Bring me the pliers (it could have been a different instrument name, but that’s how it sounded)
Stunned silence. Finally,
Sheila: The straight ones?
Dr: No that is different. Bring them all. I will teach you later (Oh my god, Sheila was a trainee and a pretty bad one at that!!)
Dr: (to me) What do you want to do now?
Me: Extract the tooth (removing my cool sunglasses)
Dr: All 4?
Me: Just 1 thank you
Dr: Which one?
Me: The blackest of the lot
Dr: Good
Dr: (to Sheila) Get the local anesthetic
Sheila got a small vial of something. I prayed hard for it to really be the anesthetic. I cringed at the sight of an injection.
Dr: (to me) Well, now that you have come here, you need to get dental work done. I am ok to do it without the anesthetic also
Me: Can you please tell me what you intend to do before poking my teeth with dangerous looking instruments? (I wanted to cry but I was putting a brave front)
Dr: (frustrated) Come on now, you have had braces before. I am sure you have got tooth extractions done. (Sheila nodded) I can’t really explain everything
Halfway through the process of extracting the tooth, Dr wanted the light to be adjusted because he couldn’t see clearly. Sheila tried unsuccessfully for a while to adjust the light. Then with a sigh, she realized she wasn’t going to be able to do it. Her face had an I-have-a-brilliant-idea expression and she began twisting and turning my face till she got the angle that she wanted for the tooth to be well-lit. Now, I was not only wearing a baby napkin and random sunglasses but my face was also twisted in an angle that I didn’t know was humanly possible. She looked triumphant. I didn’t have the heart on energy to tell her that she was an idiot! Dr probably felt my contribution to this process was not enough, so he made me hold a couple of instruments.
The tooth finally same off and Dr asked Sheila to get some surgical mask (it is a tar coloured gel which needs to be applied on the affected area). Sheila got a red tube. Dr shook his head and said surgical mask. She got a blue coloured one now and he shook his head ever more vigorously. Finally, they both went to a drawer full of medical creams/gels/lotions and he made her name everyone of them. The only one she didn’t know was the surgical mask. I wanted to be reassured that everything would be fine.
Me: There isn’t going to be a lot of blood, right?
Dr: Come now, we are all educated people (Sheila nodded). If there is a tooth extraction there is going to be blood and pain. This is surgery, not a minor cleaning.
I nodded, clutched my painkillers and ran out.
I went to this clinic near my home for lack of knowledge of any better options. I sat in the waiting room flipping through some magazines and thinking about the time when I used to be scared of dentists. The idea of having unknown, sharp instruments in my mouth and a grim looking doc scared the hell out of me. But after a 4-year long orthodontic treatment with a great orthodontist, I began warming up to the idea of dentists not being bad people really.
Soon enough I was called in by a dark, skinny, Indian girl called Sheila. The dentist (I couldn’t catch his name, let’s call him Dr) came in briskly and said
Dr: What do you want me to do today?
Me: I am not sure (It is not for us ordinary people to tell doctors what to do. It’s for you to know!!) I think there is an issue with my wisdom tooth
Dr: What is the issue?
Me: It is black (Really, this conversation was bringing back all my fears about dentists)
Dr: Ok. Do you want to save it?
Me: Can you?
Dr: I am not sure
All of this conversation happened without even a glance at the tooth in question. There was now a huge pause with me not knowing if I made the right decision coming here and the Dr wondering if there might be some merit to examining the tooth after all.
Sheila tied a small white napkin around my neck in the way that you do for kids before their meal. She made me wear dark glasses apparently to shield my eyes from the bright light above. But I felt more scared then ever with the world around me in gloomy sepia colours. We all resigned to the fact there was nothing left to do now but examine my teeth. Dr and Sheila had a conversation about my teeth like I wasn’t present.
Dr: I see what she means. It is black
Sheila: Yes
Dr: I can fill the hole and save the tooth. But she will have to come back in 6 months get it extracted
Sheila: Ok
Dr: (mumbling) The wisdom tooth is at a difficult angle. All of them actually
Sheila: What
Dr: Nothing, keeping myself busy. Bring me the pliers (it could have been a different instrument name, but that’s how it sounded)
Stunned silence. Finally,
Sheila: The straight ones?
Dr: No that is different. Bring them all. I will teach you later (Oh my god, Sheila was a trainee and a pretty bad one at that!!)
Dr: (to me) What do you want to do now?
Me: Extract the tooth (removing my cool sunglasses)
Dr: All 4?
Me: Just 1 thank you
Dr: Which one?
Me: The blackest of the lot
Dr: Good
Dr: (to Sheila) Get the local anesthetic
Sheila got a small vial of something. I prayed hard for it to really be the anesthetic. I cringed at the sight of an injection.
Dr: (to me) Well, now that you have come here, you need to get dental work done. I am ok to do it without the anesthetic also
Me: Can you please tell me what you intend to do before poking my teeth with dangerous looking instruments? (I wanted to cry but I was putting a brave front)
Dr: (frustrated) Come on now, you have had braces before. I am sure you have got tooth extractions done. (Sheila nodded) I can’t really explain everything
Halfway through the process of extracting the tooth, Dr wanted the light to be adjusted because he couldn’t see clearly. Sheila tried unsuccessfully for a while to adjust the light. Then with a sigh, she realized she wasn’t going to be able to do it. Her face had an I-have-a-brilliant-idea expression and she began twisting and turning my face till she got the angle that she wanted for the tooth to be well-lit. Now, I was not only wearing a baby napkin and random sunglasses but my face was also twisted in an angle that I didn’t know was humanly possible. She looked triumphant. I didn’t have the heart on energy to tell her that she was an idiot! Dr probably felt my contribution to this process was not enough, so he made me hold a couple of instruments.
The tooth finally same off and Dr asked Sheila to get some surgical mask (it is a tar coloured gel which needs to be applied on the affected area). Sheila got a red tube. Dr shook his head and said surgical mask. She got a blue coloured one now and he shook his head ever more vigorously. Finally, they both went to a drawer full of medical creams/gels/lotions and he made her name everyone of them. The only one she didn’t know was the surgical mask. I wanted to be reassured that everything would be fine.
Me: There isn’t going to be a lot of blood, right?
Dr: Come now, we are all educated people (Sheila nodded). If there is a tooth extraction there is going to be blood and pain. This is surgery, not a minor cleaning.
I nodded, clutched my painkillers and ran out.
