Monday, September 26, 2005

Sensitve Dentist

On a melting-hot bright sunny Sunday afternoon, the sort of day when one should be out there getting toasted on the beaches of Sentosa, I had to make a dreaded trip to the equally-dreaded dentist. There was this nagging tooth throb that I thought I should nip before my next climb or else be jabbed with painkillers in the cold mountains. So I bravely made an appointment with THE tooth expert, who took a quick look and said he'd need to do something about the tooth, and that I'd two options - to jab a local anesthetic, or bear with it. I asked if it'd be painful, he assured me it'd only be "sensitive". I took the jab nonetheless. And was I glad. Even after the numbness set in in half the mouth, I could feel him boring down on the tooth, and was so tense my back was off the consultation chair. I might as well have been at gym doing abs workout. Imagine what "sensitive" would have felt like! Thank goodness for the invention of anesthetics. Halellujah. I couldn't help wondering if they told pregnant women the same thing about feeling "sensitive".

So THE expert had to remove the fillings to check the beneath. Turned out I'd bitten on something so hard that penetrated the fillings (which are supposedly to last you for 30yrs!), and cracked the tooth and touched the nerve. Ouch x3. And that could have happened within the last 3-9mths, which could have been anything. Anyway, he refilled it with some temporary stuff, and said I'd need to fit a metal crown over it to prevent splitting the crack further. And meticulously went through all the options, one of which was to just wait til it totally split and extract the tooth. But then an old man doing that with a whole row of missing teeth could fix in dentures, whereas young lady like me would have a gaping hole... Wow! It was sales pitch at its most subtle! I was auto-pilot from then on, from asking questions to fixing appt. Haha.... Ok, no more gory details. On a porridge and little-chewing diet for the next few days. Thought of doing a detox while I'm at it, but then I just couldn't resist those choc cakes and meat.... *Grin* I guess I'll just bear with that "sensitive" feeling, THE good expert would have been proud of me. *LOL*