Random Ramblings of a Reluctant Blogger

 I am a wise man. Not that it needs any validation, but it helps when it is authenticated. Like the other day when I visited a dentist who confirmed that I have a wisdom tooth! And that was the one which was giving me trouble. “Just a minor infection in the gum near the wisdom teeth”, she said, adding “just a small course of antibiotics and it will be fine.” Great I thought, and then she floored me with a  coup de grace. “Your teeth need cleaning or else such infection might worsen so visit me once you finish the course.”

Now wisdom does not guarantee your bravery. On the contrary, it digs through a long-forgotten-for-a-reason past to just refresh your unpleasant memory. I dread the visit to a dentist and an almost decade-back experience still sends shivers down my spine. 

Then my visit to a dentist was destined when all other jugads, to cure a constant pain in one of my teeth, refused to go. Unless you are a regular (and it needs a great amount of bravery to be one), the orthodontist chair is almost akin to a torture chamber. The recliner, the only good part, lulls you into believing it is going to be a smooth ride. But just look at the various protrusions attached to it. The long arms,which can swivel in all directions, announce your captivity in no uncertain terms. You are hemmed in with all the seemingly small tools sporting various angles and  sharp ends all staring at you and waiting with glee to inflict damage. 

And as I reclined, the dentist, trying to probe the offending part, kept knocking on each tooth till I almost screamed with pain. Almost because the scream was muffled as my mouth was prised open with some device. “As I thought, you need to do a root canal treatment, ” she said. Did I notice the glee of a torturer in her voice? I was convinced when she added “we will have to do it in four sittings.” Four times the pain, I thought. 

So there I walked in with trepidation on the appointed day. “Will it be painful.?” I asked. Yes a stupid question. “Just a little,” she said. “when I inject a local anesthesia. The area near the tooth we are treating will go numb.” But how do I numb my mind which has already decided to scream. “ just raise your hands when you feel uncomfortable”, she said. Now, I feel the recliner should have an armrest and  straps so that the hands are tied. At least you can transfer the pain to your hands, but no such luck. Fear took centrestage when the sound of the drill began. Varied thoughts surfaced. What if the tongue gets caught in the drill or worse the drill slips from her hand and bores right through my jaws. And though the numbness prevented any real pain, it did not stop the mind from playing out the worst-possible scenarios. As such the ordeal seemed to last a long time. I am convinced  Einstein would have discovered the Relativity Theory on a dentist’s chair. 

I have a propensity to swoon when I see blood. So I had insisted that my wife stay in the room for moral support lest I create some unwanted drama. And to my surprise, I survived  the torment without fainting. But as soon as  I got up from the chair, my feet, proclaiming solidarity with my by-now numb mouth gave way and some seconds later I saw my wife beside me, the doctor and her assistant bent over giving me a big smile. “What was there to faint, next time keep breathing and concentrate on your breath,” She said. Though I did not swoon in the next couple of visits, the fear ingrained itself into every recess of my brain.

And now here  I was again reclining on a chair staring at all the contraptions designed to hurt and mock once again. And this time there was no anesthesia. The drilling noise once again opened the can of fears. The saving grace was the jet which was spraying cold water even as the dentist went about scrapping the adamant deposits from the teeth. I kept my mind on the cold water and occasionally on my tongue, what if..? The ordeal this time was over soon and a painless one too.

The fear, however, lingers. And all I can say is wisdom tooth or not, the wisest thing is to not visit the dentist at all.