The Suspected Wisdom
Toothache is pretty much the Achilles Heel of any strong/rugged/macho men as the saying goes, and of course, one can tolerate the ache but somehow the pain eventually overcomes eh? Furthermore, if you ever had a single painful traumatic visit to the dentists when you were younger; that experience certainly follows you about and haunts the lesser, as it is known.
I have to admit, I've never really have much great oral hygiene most of the time (barring the temporary period when I was 22 going 23, when I quit smoking then, I think) and I suppose I've been lucky enough to not be in a dire situation of any major tooth complications, thank God.
I've been an ass (and most probably will be) to the platoon of (slightly) yellowed enamels all these while as my routine brushing is pretty non-existent; only when I remembered or occasions that needs a cleanup beforehand, ie: meeting people, shame, or having dates when I used to, you know you get the drift.
Mouthwash and flossing, those 2 are included whenever possible. More on the former, as I don't think I've gotten near a dental floss in yeaaaaars. Tongue scrapper ranks higher, but that single item has been the same 5 year-old, My, coming from someone who could roughly extend his primary toothbrush for an extra year and half past it's supposed due date?
And for the record, my dietary and life habits are as follows: literal heavy smoker borderlining reformist, dangerous food consumption, I mean, when I can still have ice-cream, chocolates, sugary donuts & those yummy stuffs, I shall!
As I think about it at the moment, man, I wondered how'd those exes tolerated me sans mouthwash?
And especially those that I'd most probably forgo mouthwash after say 3 months of living-in?
Ha!
It boggles my mind how I wouldn't have that many visits to the dentist. My last visit was 3 years ago, and the previous before that must be the one time where I met a very attractive 15 years ago, I suppose I've got the better end of the stick. The only time which was directly caused by my utter carelessness was visit 3 years back. Cue episodic series flashbacks:
Previously, on Kevin's Dental Records.. That nagging toothache turned out to be a rotten tooth, premolar to be precise, after consulted with Heidi & then colleagues, I decided to visit and extract the rotten premolar out after being convinced that it shouldn't show whenever I smile (vain)
But then again, (as the constant mild pain is continuously bugging me) why am I writing about the previous and my deserved sorry state of dental habits? Yesterday's visit has nothing to do with rotten teeth, well. Kinda.
The real perpetrator is about the other guy.
I seriously suspect the molar is the long-awaited wisdom tooth.
 |
| not mine, of course. my guy is practically horizontal and headbutting onto his mate, to my displeasure |
I've been on relative high alert all these while as I questioned: Am I really without wisdom, damn?
In my world of hearing people or their friends having wisdom tooth extraction on those many conversations; I was (at times) thinking at the back of my mind, on when the flying eff would it ever happen to me as I saw through my 20's and half-way through my over-the-hill 30's.
Have I got no wisdom?
I've been nursing some toothache that amplified my on/off insomniac phase for past couple weeks. It was a nightly thing that I've grown quite accustomed to; however the frequency that it occurs during the day had increased and I decided to check it up.
Surprising enough, the dentist said the rest of them are okay, no rottens (yay) and probably the cause of all this is the last molar is growing towards the other (not her exact words, of course) and lo at nearing 37 years old I've had my maiden X-ray, hurrah!
They could confirm that the impacted tooth needs extraction, yet the submerged molar needs to be monitored if it needs further, er, work (okay I am grasping at straws here on the last part)
Made appointment for the morrow, and I was thinking, phew! lucky break, nothing that could impact my smiles, yet (sic!)
With much gungho and gusto and guidance from the Lord, headed for the 9am yesterday, with Ma in tow. Ha! Not really, Ma had her scheduled routine blood test downstairs (of course she grumbled about being at the clinic that early : she is an early riser of course, but she prefers the later time to visit government hospitals/clinics similar to mois as we are sure the queues would gradually withered by then) and oh my, there was a whole morning crowd, luckily for her (and being golden citizen) she got her bloodworks pretty fast; about 35 mins; when I waltzed down with half my face (lips, don't mind the exaggeration) locked in another timezone. Oh I am so using this!
Back to the dentist chair (I wonder what's it called?) , I counted a good 9 anesthetics over 2 rounds before I lost count on the last round before the extraction. Oh my, I am not that squeamish I reckon, I think I was pretty okay with that other extraction last time; aside from putting up a brave front under a fine looking dentist (different, not the classy stunner from years ago) but most probably because that premolar on my right (only 'shines' out on uncontrolled big smiles/laughs) was utterly rotten to the core and practically fell off.
It was pretty uncomfortable as I could feel the nagging feel that the other guy (wisdom molar) was moving when the doc was extracting (is that the correct terminology?) the dying tooth. It wasn't painful (really!!) but its just nagging, I kinda indicated the discomfort as I thought the dentist should know; but yeah, thanks to Nurse no.1 and Nurse intern; they thought I was a pansy. "Rileks, Kebin" made me wishing that I could tell them I could bear the pain.
After the extraction, and a quick rinse, she found that the sleeping molar is actually in good condition, and off I go but before all of them alternately telling me the post instructions that always includes the usual no-smoking for 3 days; well, the usual; though this visit doesn't include an invitation to some Quit Smoking drive/talk/campaign. (nope, I didn't participate 3 years ago, kept the brochure and recommendation letter from those 2 lovely dentists, didn't go.. reason? See next few paragraphs)
Took Ma for her second breakfast; the coffee shop with infamous roast pork by the main market. By then, I've already justified a smoke; as I recalled I did just that too 3 years ago, idiotic.
I did one thing better (or worse) this time around by discarding the gauze and had a few slivers (chucks, Taiping styled) of roast pork, temptations, temptations.
All of this was within an hour; good job. The things we do, eh? No wonder I bled and been on a bloody saliva for the whole day. I did, however cut down on my smokes, not significantly, but yeah, and slept early last night and I suppose the bleeding slowed massively after the night's rest.
