I got my right wisdom tooth extracted today. I was lying on the dentist’s chair while the dentist and her assistant operated on me with dangerous-looking tools, and I was trying to distract myself by thinking all kinds of thoughts.
Following one such train of thought, I decided to write about my experience.

It might have been the effect of the anesthesia, but I went into a deeply retrospective state as I lay on the chair. Talking of anesthesia, that’s where the procedure started. The dentist told me to remove my spectacles first, and the world was all kinds of blurry after that. She told me to open my mouth and was trying to inject the anesthesia into my gum. I was having a lot of trouble keeping my tongue out of the way, as the thought of a needle entering my gum was not a very pleasant one, especially for me who gets anxious during medical procedures.

After some maneuvering, she was able to finally inject the medicine and told me to wait for 5 mins until the anesthetic starts to kick in. The anesthesia’s effect was really funny. Slowly, I stopped feeling the right side of my mouth and face and the effect was only getting stronger. Apparently, this was still not strong enough, and I needed another injection. I was anxious again, but thankfully, due to some effect of the anesthesia, I did not even feel the needle go in this time.

After a minute or so, the procedure finally started. The dentist shouted at her assistant to get various kinds of instruments and medical terms which I could only half comprehend.

Interestingly enough, the Dentists’ child was in the same room as us, and she was telling him words to write in his notebook as she was moving around various instruments in my mouth. I was a little bit worried about this, but she was probably used to this arrangement as she was not getting distracted while doing so.

My mouth was completely numb at this point, and she had started to cut and pull with various devices on the insides of my mouth. I was getting anxious, so I decided to stare at random objects in the room. Since I did not have my glasses, I could not even see the clock on the opposite wall properly so I resorted to thinking about my life instead.

I’ve always found medical institutions and procedures to be very gloomy and anxiety-inducing. To me, that particular moment was a symbol of my decaying body. I’ll probably go through some more similar procedures on other parts of my body over the years, but having the dentist and her assistant all over my face was definitely not a very comfortable experience.

Anyways, as I said, the Dentist was clawing away at my mouth and as the blood poured out, her assistant was sucking out the blood using a suction device. The device was tickly, and he moved around the device a lot, but I resisted the urge to cough and move my mouth. After some time, the Dentist changed the instrument she was using and resorted to using a device to pull my tooth out. She was really using a lot of force, but my tooth must have been deeply embedded in my jaw. Whenever she took the device out of my mouth, I thought, maybe this is finally over, only to realize that her instrument had slipped and my tooth was not budging from its place.

She instructed another one of her assistants to get a larger device instead and it seemed to work. As she gave one hard tug at my tooth, it finally came out, and she and I both breathed a sign of relief.

I thought it was finally over, but when she asked for a suture, I realized that there are going to be stitches and my anxiety peaked again. She was at it again, and all I could see was a thread that went inside my mouth. A lot more blood must have been coming out because her assistant was using his suction machine a lot more. I did not have a lot of sensation left in my mouth at that time, so I was failing to follow her instructions on keeping my tongue out of the way, as I was not even sure I had a tongue at that moment. Thankfully, her assistant used another device to keep my tongue away and she was able to complete the procedure. Apparently, I have to go back again after 10 days to get the stitches removed as well. I guess my misery shall continue for a while.

…

I am back home now and have only consumed dal and ice cream, as I wait for the sensation in my mouth to return. I am not able to speak properly at the moment, but I am enjoying having to explain various things to my family only on the basis of various hand movements and throaty sounds.