my first time being operated upon

*heaves a breath*

Rites. I came to the clinic at 10.00am and registered myself. By 10.30am i was called inside, where they asked me to put on a set of scrubs. I met up with the dental surgeon, a dentist by the name of Dr Teh, who explained to me the procedures. She also explained the risks that I face, namely temporary or permanent loss of sensation/ numbness to the jaw and/or tongue due to nerve injuries.

I went into the OT, my heart was pee-pooring (as how Nura would describe it). I was unusually nervous, and i attributed it to the fact that this was the first major procedure that i was going under, and that it is the DENTIST.

I sat in the chair, and Dr Teh proceeded on to anaesthesize me. It was a LONG needle, and it stung like crap. And there she was jabbing into my gums and my buccal areas... until at last, I could not feel anything. But I remembered flinching at one part when she was numbing the left side of my mouth, something which had repercussions later.

The orderly prepped me. My eyes were shielded from the glare of the lights with a surgical cloth. Thankfully. They did not cover my ears with mufflers or anything, so I heard every single noise that was made when the surgery was carried out.

Firstly, the incision into the gum to reveal the impacted teeth. That was not so bad...because the scraping of the gum was totally painless and no force was required.

then came the insane drilling.

i could smell my teeth burning from the friction.
i could feel the drill pushing in and shattering my teeth.
i could imagine how bloody it was, cos i could taste my blood.

the drilling was the one thing that made that whole experience, absolutely frightening. the singularly most frightening experience of my life.
dentists seem to work very well with drills, and that classic stereotype of a dentist drilling into your mouth while you lie helpless on the chair, became a reality for me. take that for experience.

but this dentist had something more up her sleeve. she attempted to extract a tooth which may possibly require operation to remove properly. and she pulled like there was no tomorrow. and i'd rather had my head come off, than my tooth, because she pulled super super hard, and the damn tooth did not budge. and i was getting distressed under the sheets. and i could feel the pain, because like i said, i think the left side was a bit poorly anaesthesized due to my own fault. but fortunately, it came off not long after.

when they removed the mask from my eye, i visibly wiped away a tear or two, and i do not know whether it was from the pain, or from the relief of the operation ending.

there you have it, a blow by blow account of my first major procedure.

*heaves another breath*