The Visit to The Dentist

I went to visit the dentist last Wednesday. It was no easy feat for me, considering the phobia that I have about meeting dentists. It was my first visit in 3 years, and the last visit was made more out of necessity rather than routine as I had a severe tooth ache that I couldn’t bear any longer and in pain and desperation I somehow got over the phobia temporarily and braced myself to see the doctor with the perpetual image of a drill in his hand. But the visit 3 years ago also taught me that my fear to visit the dentist could have had a serious consequence.


Now, open wide...

I had had the ache to my premolar tooth (one of the smaller gigi geraham... heck, I had to Google it up know what the particular tooth is called in English) since my university days and due to my perceived irrational fear to see the dentist, I had chosen to live with the pain rather than brave myself to get on the dentist’s chair. You see, my phobia for the dentist is not something which I was born with, or something that I had acquired from my visits to the dentist in my childhood days. Rather, my phobia started after a visit I made to the dentist when I was in the UK during my A-Level studying days. The same tooth (before the ache began) had cracked again, and the earlier filling in the tooth had come out leaving a big cavity. I decided to visit the dentist and get a new filling with no hesitation back then. But the way the dentist administered the filling back then left a long lasting effect on me that I still shiver whenever I recounted the story.

First of all, he injected some sort of anasthetic into my gum, supposedly so that I won’t feel any pain from the procedure. Fine, I thought. This is nothing new. The anasthetic later had the effect of temporarily paralysing half of my face for half a day that I didn’t look too much different from Quasimodo from Hunchback of Notre Dame. The worst part actually came when the tooth drilling started in earnest, and guess what, it was bloody painful! I tried not to show any agitation at first, trying to preserve my male masochism the best I can. But it came to a point when I felt like the drilling actually hit a NERVE in my gum that I reactively screamed in pain. I can’t recall what the dentist said or reacted to my agony at the time as I was too absorbed by the pain. To make matters worse, all this happened about 3 days before my A-Levels exams. It had a traumatic effect on me, and the whole episode was enough to give me a life long phobia of the dentist.


A case of bad anasthetic...

My phobia however almost had a serious consequence. The filling done by the dentist who scared me to life unfortunately came off after only 2 more years, and this time I was understandably too hesitant to do anything about it. I decided to leave the cavity uncapped, to the detriment of the tooth and gum. It was getting increasingly painful whenever I accidentaly chomped my food with that particular tooth. My gum in that particular area had bled frequently and it was beginning to excrete puss. My breath was getting foul by the day, and I then decided enough was enough. I gathered my courage and braced myself for a dental visit 3 years ago. My tooth managed to be saved, just barely. The dentist said it was almost too late when I finally decided to do something about it, and he thought at first that the tooth had to be extracted. He performed a root canal treatment on it, and I was left with a lesson that such fears, irrational or rational it may be, needs to be conquered if I were to avoid getting myself into such a situation again.

Which brought me to my first visit to the dentist in 3 years yesterday.

The visit this time was more due to routine however. I know the common advice for a regular dentist visit should be done once every 6 months, and believe me I have been psyching myself to do that all the time. But time and time again I would find a convenient excuse not to go. The visit this time was triggered by my wife who had a minor complaint about an ache to her premolar tooth as well. So we went...


"Argghh... doctor, that is not the right tooth!" One of the common fears for those suffering from dental phobia

Getting seated on the dentist’s chair never fails to get my heart racing. Good thing the dentist didn’t find anything wrong with my teeth to warrant any serious procedure, so I was just up for scaling. It had been a long while since I had scaling of my teeth anyway.

There was an interesting fact that I learnt from the visit. The dentist took a quick look at my teeth and asked if I was a smoker. The question took me by surprise because I do not smoke. She said my teeth were stained, which is usually brought about by smoking. She then asked if I drank tea. Yeah, of course. I used to be an addict to teh tarik. She said tea is also responsible in leaving stains on teeth, especially the cheap teas with hypermarket brands that you buy from Tescos or Giant, as it is filled with colourings. She adviced that it is advisable to gargle after taking tea to make sure that the stains does not stick and stay on your teeth. Hmm... I never knew that.

The scaling exercise felt forever. And I didn’t know it could be quite an agonising experience either. I have sensitive teeth you see, and I would even cringe in discomfort when gargling cold water because of it. But it was all worth it in the end. After what seem like forever, my teeth had lost all its stains and my mouth felt so clean. And suddenly braving myself for this visit seem all worth it.


My blindingly shiny teeth afterwards...

Will I see the dentist again in 6 months? Hmmm... somehow the prospect doesn't seem so scary anymore.