The day I dreaded finally arrived by no choice of mine. The last tooth on my upper left jaw finally decided to leave – it began to wobble and the gums surrounding it became sore; not to mention the pain it produced that travelled through every tooth.
I picked up all the courage I had, waited patiently for my turn to see the doctor (3 hours) and finally got the tooth extracted.
Why all the fuss? In one word – PAIN or better still the fear of imagined pain.
And that was what surprised me in the end – it wasn’t anywhere as painful as I had imagined and made it to be.
First the gum area surrounding the rogue tooth was sprayed with an ice cold burst of something from a small can which looked something like a mini mosquito spray can. I assumed this was to numb my gums. Then the dreaded long needle appeared. As I braced myself for searing pain from the stabs made with the needle, I felt a one second sharp bite sensation and that was it – the doctor had jabbed me several times but I felt almost nothing. After waiting for several minutes, the famous metal pliers appeared. “Raise your hand if you feel any pain” the doctor instructed as she grasped my tooth. I waited for the pain, the tugging and pulling, the grunts from the doctor as she struggles to dislodge my tooth. Instead there was nothing and a few seconds later I hear her say: “OK, it’s done.” And that was it.
This is definitely a classic example of what fear really is – a false perception of an expected evil based on past experiences that are no longer valid. My childhood experiences of painful tooth extractions were no longer real and dentistry has progressed so much since I was in that school dental clinic in Terengganu. I guess I have to update my information and paint better scenarios in the future. I’ll need it because I know this will not be my last visit to the dentist.
