A Visit to a Dentist
I do not like to visit the dentist. But one day I had a bad toothache. My tooth hurt through the night. I could not bear the pain so I phoned my dentist, and made an appointment with him. My parents took me to the dentist. I was horrified, but I had no choice.
As soon as the dentist arrived, I was summoned into his cabin while my parents waited outside. I had been waiting for half an hour, having thumbed through all the torn and tattered magazines in the waiting room. The dentist, Dr. Tan, who happens to be my friend, was late. She had taken me aside after a church choir practice last Thursday and slapped me with an appointment with her. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth so wide while singing. The dentist asked me about the troubling tooth and I pointed it out to him.
Suddenly, a nurse called my name. I felt like a sheep to be slaughtered as she ushered me into the room. Dr. Tan was smiling sweetly but she looked intimidating in her white overcoat. “Just tell me when you are going to take it out,” I pleaded nervously. She donned her mask and looked downright serious. I opened my mouth to show her where the affected tooth was. She made some small talk but I could only nod in response. Then, she injected some anesthetic. “Does it hurt?” she asked. I was stunned momentarily by the ant-bite sensation. Then, she ushered me to a chair. “Wait here till the medicine takes effect,” she said.
While waiting, I felt my lips growing bigger. Dr. Tan continued her chit-chatting with her patient while drilling his tooth. Dentists are weird. They ask you questions that need more than a one-word answer and at the same time, they are working inside your mouth. This was the first time I saw the other side of her. However, I did not have time to dwell on that as another more pressing matter was before me. By the end of the ten minutes, I was pretty sure everyone was looking at my lips.
I was back on the chair again. She knocked on the affected tooth. “Does it hurt?” she asked again. By now, I couldn’t feel anything. “I’m just going to loosen the tooth a bit first,” she continued. I felt her moving here and there. “Now, rinse your mouth,” she said. After that, I sank back into the chair reluctantly. “It’s done,” she announced. “Here is your tooth,” she said as she shoved a little dish into my hands.
I could not believe my eyes. The tooth was huge although one of its roots was gone. I slipped out of the chair, still dazed by it all. I waved goodbye and she patted me on my back. Before I could say anything, she had already nodded at her next patient.
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