Called my mum last night to inform her that I managed to get my partially rotten wisdom tooth removed from my upper right jaw. The visit to the dentist was a very pleasant one. Jonathan’s mum and youngest brother, Jeremy accompanied me to his uncle’s dentist clinic located at Taman Sentosa. Sentosa is a very tricky name as one might think that it’s in Singapore, no it is not, it is in downtown Johor Bahru.

At first I thought it was a simple restoration of my old amalgam fillings in which I thought I could choose the white composite fillings instead of the silver-looking amalgam fillings.

Picture Source: ADA.org

It turned out to be that after a detailed inspection from the dentist, my wisdom tooth is the main culprit. The little rotten hole in it had caused the surrounding nerves to suffer pains as well. The only SOLUTION is to pluck out the wisdom tooth.

“What? Need to cabut my teeth?” I exclaimed.
“It appears so! Your wisdom tooth grew at the corner which made it very difficult for you to brush your teeth.” explained the dentist.
“Is it possible to just fill my tooth with fillings?” I continued.
“It won’t take a long time to take away the rotten tooth, boy.” the dentist looked at me.
Jon’s mum and Jeremy who were with me inside the room started to giggle.
Jon’s mum continued, “Big boy like you still afraid of cabut gigi kah?”
“Ya. I hate it. Cabut gigi leh…” I replied.
“Okay, here. Listen to me. You either want to have a short pain or a continuous pain. You choose.” the dentist said.
“I take the short pain then. Just pluck it.” I told the dentist.

Within a few seconds, I could feel several jabs penetrating my gum. Within minutes, I started to feel numb. I was advised to take pain killers as well. The dentist left me there while he attended to another patient next door. Jon’s mum and Jeremy kept talking to me to ease my tension. About 15 minutes later he came back with his gloves and shiny tools.

The journey began! At first it was a small spanner, I did not close my eyes. Several attempts to pull off the wisdom tooth failed. He then said, “What big tooth you have. Very nasty. Don’t worry, I have a bigger spanner.”

Oh God, save me. The spanner was bigger than the previous one. I closed my eyes and grasped my hands tightly while he started wrenching the tooth in twisting motion. I feel no pain, just numbness in me. One thing for sure, it took him quite a while to have my tooth removed. I could tell by his force he exerted. Funny huh? I feel no pain but I can feel the force used.

At last he managed to pluck the tooth. He then proceeded with cleaning the wounds. “Your wound looks big, I will have to sew the wounds for you to stop the profuse bleeding.” he said.

“WHAT!!!”

At first it was spanner, now needle! Pity me to take in two unexpected shocks for the day. What else can I do? Only the dentist can save me, so I let him stitched the wounds with thread and needle. Operation done!

I was given a glimpse of my nasty rotten wisdom tooth. I brought it back as well for remembrance. You might want to skip this part, my tooth looks abominable.

I was so happy when I got up from the operation chair. What a day! I need to get back to the dentist to have the black-coloured thread removed. Seriously, I am considering giving myself a brighter smile by deep cleansing my teeth to remove plaque, tartar, bacteria and tooth root surface.

It cost me RM60 to have my wisdom tooth removed. The deep cleansing will cost less than RM100 which I am willing to pay at my next visit.

You know what? At first I thought I was all alone to go through these. Thank God for sending me an angel to take care of me. Jon’s mum invited me for a lunch before we went to the dentist and she even prepared porridge for me knowing that I can’t chew solid food. I feel so loved.

At night, I cancelled my tuition session because I simply needed some rest. Met with Aunt Anita from Mukah and Fr Paul for supper. Most of the time I just listened and didn’t talk much, and hardly have any solid food. Aunt Anita even prepared umai for us. Yummy! Luckily umai was easy to chew so I took some.

If you are wondering why I am so free today, let me tell you. I applied for a day off from my supervisor because my head is still dizzy. I think it’s not so much of the pain but because of the shock, spanner and needle.