小明拔牙记

Thursday, November 24, 2016
24 November 2016 - It was a usual Thursday afternoon when my class ended early at 3.30 pm. In view of my free time, I went to the dental clinic in my college for a check up on my supernumerary tooth (an extra tooth which grows out of proportion in the oral cavity) for the first time.


Upon arriving, I had a normal check up by the dentist on the ground floor of the clinic, Dr Raeshma. She noticed that one of my molar tooth (wisdom tooth) is slanted and decayed. I was shocked and surprised at the same time, how could my wisdom tooth decayed without any symptoms, I was talked to myself. After that, she referred me to 3rd floor for 'further evaluation', which I thought is great.

However, when I arrived, there are so many dentistry students there, some of them were the ones I knew like Yi Wei, Chopper, Kit Yee, etc. The feeling is strange because I am meeting them as a patient rather than as a friend. Each of them wanted to have a look at my tooth condition, which I happily agreed, because I understand, yes, I understand the feeling of an eager students who wants to learn.

Since my case is just a normal tooth extraction, the dentist there advised me to do it on the same day itself, I agreed. The guy who gave local anesthetic to me is a first timer, with his seniors teaching him how and where to inject the 2% lignocaine. I personally have no problem with it, I don't mind being a subject for learning, as I recalled the situations where I gave my first injections, first cannula, first glucometer, etc, but I can't deny that I was nervous, not because of pain, but simple just nervous, because this is the first time I am actually seeing a dentist for my oral hygiene.

Andy, a year 4 dentistry student started the procedure, with his juniors surrounding me. They were speaking in their dentistry language (bucker tooth, tooth 1-8) and as usual asked me not to be nervous, I finally knew the real feeling of being a patient and surrounded by so many enthusiastic students at once. However, Andy could not extract the tooth out, and had to called for help from Chopper, a final year student. After much effort and swapping of instruments, changing of maneuveres, he could not remove it too.

I was checking my pulse rate at the same time and I had tachycardia because of the long procedures. I thought mine was an easy case, but when they finally asked the doctor for help, I knew something must be wrong with my tooth. After an hour, the lignocaine effect starts to wear off and I can feel mild discomfort, and with much effort, the doctor removed it and it was found that the root of my tooth is bend to 90 degrees, that explains the difficult procedure. The entire procedure took more than an hour, but I knew it was not their fault, as my wisdom is not like the rest, wisdom tooth I meant.


I personally wanted to thank all the dentistry students and dentists in the dental clinic for their hardwork and because of me, they have to work beyond 5 pm. I decided to blog this because the experience in the dental clinic is so new to me, and I am able to really feel what it feels like to be a patient myself. At the same time, I would also like to advise those who are reading this to have a regular dental check up because who knows, you may detect a big problem early! :)

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