Wisdom Tooth Extraction (Left Jaw)
As the clock passed 10:45 am on 28 September 2007, I reluctantly crawled my way to St. Andrew’s Dental Surgeons from office to keep my wisdom teeth removal appointment at 11:00 am. For a person like me which have never stepped into an operation theatre, never had any of the surgeries before would certainly be very fearful. I don’t know what I can anticipate except with the unknowns. The questions of how a dentist will pull out both infected wisdom teeth puzzled me.
St. Andrew’s Dental Surgeons @ Amara, Tanjong Pagar
I must thank God for the wonderful encounter with Dr. Justin Leong, a young, gentle & humorous fatherly figure yet who can execute his responsibilities with professionalism. Dr. Leong is patient and he definitely knows some tricks to comfort you and guide you how to cooperate with him throughout the surgery. Although my surgery was considered a minor one according to him, doctor still treated me with care.
The Dental Chair Yours Truly Sat On.
Dr. Leong has explained what I should expect before the operation began. Hence, I had no issues following his instructions during the surgery. As I was mentally getting ready for the extraction, doctor asked me to take a deep breath and open my mouth. I knew it had begun.
“Ok, Vicky ….open your mouth big big, I am going to apply some numbing gel around your gum before I give you the local anesthetic.”
And he continued.
“This is strawberry flavoured, many of my kid patients like it a lot.” He said it persuasively.
I was like thinking, “Man, this doctor is treating me like another kid now…”
The gel started taking its effect after a few minutes stay around my gum. Doctor asked his “partner in crime”, the nurse- Ms. Sharidah covered me with two thin layers of blue clothes and eye mask so I would not freak myself out seeing the tools they used. That is a normal operation house procedure. Sometimes things are better not to be seen.
The local anesthetic application was a bit warm and ticklish, I couldn’t feel much as the strawberry flavoured numbing gel helped easing the discomforts.
“Do you feel numbness around your left jaw now, slightly over your cheek and your lip?”
“Hmmm. A…lil…bit…” I was mumbling due to the numbness of my mouth.
“Good, you can’t talk means it’s working.” He grinned cheekily.
Subsequently, Dr. Leong inserted his finger and touched my teeth and asked me if I felt anything. Yes, I could only feel his movement over my teeth. Nothing else.
And then, the real fun had begun. This time I couldn’t remember what he did inside my mouth, all I could remember was breathing very heavily. It was believed that taking deep breathe could calm myself down. On and off, doctor will stop where he was doing and asked me to “take a deep breath, inhale………hold……..and exhale….”.
“Good, Vicky. You’re doing very well!”
My mind started picturing myself giving birth in the labour room. Don’t ask me why, maybe due to the breathe in and breathe out.
Dr. Leong jokingly teased saying, “How to give birth ah next time, cannot bear the pain?”
And knowing I couldn’t talk, he self-answered, “Nevermind ……..now we have this pain killer. What’s that called ar? Aiks cannot remember now.”
“Ahh, Epidural!” He remembered the term.
So, can you imagine how humorous my dentist is?
On & off, nurse will apply Vaseline on my lips to prevent dryness as Dr. Leong continued drilling the tooth.
Finally, Dr. Leong pulled out my teeth effortlessly. He then stitched the wound and got me to bite on the gauze pad. I don’t know if I had bitten him since I couldn’t feel anything on the gum. ha ha.
The fruit of Dr. Leong’s work. hee hee. Tooth without being sectioned.
Did you see the decayed wisdom tooth?
Doctor Justin Leong & Ms. Sharidah & Yours Truly. Doctor Leong don’t dare to scare you with the blood on his fist. haha…it’s my A+ blood!
Dr. : How are you now? Okay ?
Vicky: *Nod Nod*
Dr. : Ya, can take picture means absolutely OK! 
Well, this is just my first round of extraction. I have one more round on my right jaw and another separate session to replace the silver filling with white ones.
A special note to Doctor Leong : Thank you very much for making the surgery a most pleasant one I ever had. You have certainly affirmed and assured dentistry experience is not bad at all. I appreciate your patience and your lullaby jokes. 
Please continue to be my dentist.
posted in Humour, Photos Sharing, Singapore | 13 Comments
