ICE.COLD.COFFEE

My appointment was at 8am and I was going to extract 2 teeth cos I was going to put braces.

I was scared. But I'm definitely going to go through with it, no matter what!

I had the chance to put braces in sec 2 but I gave up the chance because I was afraid of having to pull out 4 teeth. Now, I regret. Had I put them 4 years ago, I would have a nice set of teeth by now.

Now, after re-queuing for braces at the National Dentre Centre (NDC), it's finally my turn.

I was scared. Of course. But I knew that if I didn't pull out the teeth now, I would regret even more in future.

Sheryl and Kimberly video-called me together while I was in my Dad's car. Sheryl was like "don't worry, not pain one". I didn't really believe that, but I felt loads better with their encouragement.

At 8 plus, I saw my dentist and she checked my teeth, then she put some small rubber bands (called separators) in between some teeth. She said it was so that the teeth would make space for a metal ring she was going to insert the next week.

The separators would have to be there for one whole week. It's still quite uncomfortable. Not used to it yet.

I still have 2 more appointments before I actually put on the braces. Next week I'll pull out another 2 more teeth, and the next week, the braces will be fitted on me.

After putting on the separators, the dentist said I had to wait outside for another dentist to extract my teeth. By that time, I wasn't feeling scared. I felt like that was something I just had to go through.

Soon, I was called in. This second dentist was a guy. He was quite friendly, I think it's to make me relax. He asked quite a few questions about me before he injected anything. I didn't realise that most of my answers were quite short, and I kept replying ok until he asked "can you say something else other than ok?" Must have be quite difficult for him to keep a conversation going like that. Haha...

He asked if I was going back to school. And was quite surprised that I was. Because people will usually take the chance to skip school. Anyway, I had to go back because I didn't want to miss econs S. Also, I was chosen for a econs fund management quiz and the briefing was today too.

He also asked why I was so tan. I said it was swimming. And we talked about that for a while. I like talking about swimming so it kinda made me relax quite a bit. When he was applying something on my gums he asked me a question and I felt I couldn't reply cos I couldn't move my mouth properly. But he said I could talk, so I did.

This dentist gave me the impression that's he's really charismatic. Very charming. Haha... :D

He injected anesthetic twice, once at each tooth to be extracted. The injection wasn't really pain. It was so much better than I expected.

After a while, it just went numb.

Then the extraction began.

I lay down on the chair, while his assisstant held my head. (it seriously isn't as scary as it sounds)

Then he took some "pliers" and took out the teeth at the top. It was just like he held on to the teeth and shaked it sideways a little to loosen it, then pulled it out. I DIDN'T FEEL ANYTHING AT ALL!

I could tell the teeth was coming out, but completly no pain.

For the lower teeth, I sat in a more upright position, and he pulled it out the same way.

After everything, he asked "exciting or not?"

I wanted to say yes. It really was quite exciting. But I didn't. Shy la.

I got to keep the teeth too. And to my surprise, they were actually quite long! I thought they were like what you see in your mouth, maybe a little longer because part of it is embedded in the gum (like milk teeth). But no, it was quite long! The whole tooth, includind the root, was twice as long as I expected. Quite amazing! And I got to keep it too!

I had to bite on some gauze to stop the bleeding and it was uncomfortable. Half my mouth was numb and the right side of my lips had no feeling. It was weird!

When I went back to school, I spit out the gauze and looked at the hole. Obviously, it didn't look nice. Luckily, it didn't hurt. My mouth was still a little numb but the numbness soon went away. Still, there was no pain (luckily!).

Amarjote wanted to see the removed teeth and I showed it to her. In the end, quite a lot of my classmates saw it too. Their reaction was like "cool!". But I felt it was so gross! Argh...

Amarjote said the pain will come one or two days later when the anesthetic wears off. I kinda believe her cos she's worn braces before, but does the anesthetic take so long to wear off?

The dentist said some people find it very painful, while others don't find it pain at all. Hope I belong to the second group.

I expected it to be so painful that I wouldn't be able to eat properly. But the thing is, I can eat properly. Just that I use my left side to chew, so food wouldn't get stuck in the hole. I can still eat all the food I used to eat, perhaps in smaller portion, so as not to "disturb" the hole too much.

This has really been an amazing experience. Everything turned out so much better than I expected. Now that I've gone through it, I can't believe that I chose not to put braces years ago just because of this extraction!

hi char!
u got urself braces!
i'll probably be getting it after m a lvls... so will be gg thru more pain.. need to extract 4 teeth lehz..

hahah..jiayou!
xuan

haven't put braces.

last week extracted 2 teeth, tmr another 2, then next thur put braces. altogether 4 teeth too. haha...

cherish the time you have with proper teeth. it doesn't feel too good with teeth missing now.

but it'll all be worth it after we remove the braces. haha! :)

i extracted 2 wisdom teeth via dental surgery, that was worse... all the blood, drilling & swelling & stuff.
so i alrdy have missing teeth..heehee.. my 3rd wisdom tooth has growth out, think i'll need to extract it sometime later too.. hai

you're so brave! I'll be super scared if I have to extract my wisdom teeth. hope i don't have to!