I was called inside, after Mr. Navrange, left. Also, in the mean time, I could feel the effect of anesthesia. The left Cheek, left side of my lips, and the left part of my tongue had gone numb. It was very unusual feeling. I was not able to speak properly, since; I could not feel my tongue touching the palette while speaking…the anesthesia was working. A long time had passed by, since the time I came into the clinic. I was feeling hungry and thirsty. I went inside, and took my position on the Dentist’s typical chair which was lowered for me to almost lie down. The scene around was very dramatic. Like a Hollywood movie based on Aliens. There was a plethora of different pointed and curvaceous instruments shining and clean. The instruments were present in plastic pouches. In that room, a mild holy mantra was being played again and again, “Swami Samartha, Jai Jai Swami smartha….” (Repeated infinite no of times!....I was about to to get completely unconscious if the shloka continued for another one hour!) Mrs. Doctor came and sat besides the dentist chair.
Mrs. Doctor: “So…how are you feeling today?”
Me: “Great, …just a bit scared!”
Mrs. Doctor: “ha ha…no need to, we will make it painless for you! …We are going to start soon, have you taken the morning pills I had asked you to take?”
Me: “Ohh…no….I …I actually, forgot! Since, I came in hurry over here, I…I forgot.”
Mrs. Doctor: “The pill I had prescribed you to be taken in the morning is necessary, since surgical procedure must be undertaken only after the pill is taken. Any ways, not a problem, I have one with me, take that…and then we start”
Mrs. Doctor had 2 assistants, one male (Manoj… name changed) and other female (Sujata…name changed). Sujata gave the pill and a glass of water, to me, and by the time I swallowed it, Manoj gave me a small plastic cup filled with a mouth wash around 10 ml.
Manoj: “Sir, please take this and rinse it for about a minute, do not spit it…unless I ask you to do so, sir!”
I rinsed for a minute and asked him, … he checked the time and said, “OK”. I spat out the mouth wash in the nearby basin, and now my mouth was really going very dry, may be because of the anesthesia.
I asked him, “Cann I, geth a glassh of wather?” (…I was not able to speak properly since my left side of the mouth had gone numb.
Manoj: “I am sorry sir, from now on you are not allowed to drink or eat anything, and the surgery will start soon.”
I looked at the table near where the instruments had been neatly layed down in different pouches. Out of curiosity, I asked, “Are, theesh new inshtrumentsh? … jusht for me?”
Manoj: “Yes sir,…But not new, its only that, we have sterilized them all and cleaned up properly for the surgery”
Meanwhile, Mrs. Doctor came back, she was wearing the typical surgical cap on her head and the mask. It was very filmy, since the last time I saw any surgery was only in movies.
Mrs. Doctor: “Manoj, have you given them the mouthwash? (Manoj nods affirmatively) Ok…so, Mr. Patkar, we will start the surgery soon, I have given you anesthesia, so you will not feel the pain, but while performing the surgery, if you feel any pain or any discomfort …which is not possible, please raise your left hand, I will stop momentarily. Ok?”
Me: “hmm..Ok….Buth, when I wassh rinshing, I could noth feel thhe mouth wash reaching uptho the wishdhom thooth, I am noth shure, if it the mouth wash hash dhone itsh job!”
Mrs. Doctor: “No…that is fine, since you have been given local anesthesia…you will not feel it!”
Me: “But madham, now, if I jusht thake a bithe I can feel, thhe presshure from upper jhaw!”
Mrs. Doctor: “See, it’s like this, the local anesthesia is used to just loose you senses for PAIN momentarily...other senses like heat, taste, pressure are still active. That is why I said, if you feel any discomfort, please raise your left hand...now please lay down...Is this your first dental surgery?”
Me: “yeah!”
Mrs. Doctor: “hmm… (she smiles)…that is why you are looking so scared. But don’t worry”
And the next few minutes for me were like, I was some kind of film celebrity, with my entire makeup artists, taking care of me and pampering me. I laid down there, Manoj, kept placed a plastic sheet, similar, to a baby’s wib below my neck. Then the doctor, asked for something and then she brought a damp piece of cotton, it was very big, clutched between the tongs. She held my head, and moved it over the jaw part of my face, above my lips near the moustache. That big, cotton bud had been dipped in some solution, which was very cool, which had a very STRONG PUNGENT smell. It was so strong, that when she moved, above my lips near the moustache, the smell straight away made its way through my nostrils…and spontaneously I coughed up. It was unbearable! SO STRONG!!!
Mrs. Doctor: “yeah, the smell is very strong and pungent, this is kind of antiseptic, and that is generally applied before surgery!”
Me: (in my mind) “What???...What did she mean by antiseptic…is …is she going to make any incision of cut from outside…will that leave any scars? She never told me she will do all this!!! Mrs. Doctor, told me the gums surrounding the wisdom tooth needs to be cut open to make room for the tooth to be removed…and hence there will be stitches, …wait a minute, if she performs the surgery from outside my mouth, that is on my face, that will mean putting stitches, outside, that is visible part of my face. But I have grown a thick beard, how can she make cuts on my face externally? …won’t that require shaving? She doesn’t seem to mind me coming for surgery without shaving….so will she perform the surgery internally or externally?” I was confused …and before I could complete my thought process, Sujata brought a typical green colored damp cloth with a big hole in it…almost of size of a human head…I thought I had to wear that by putting my head in the hole of that cloth, so I moved ahead….suddenly…
Manoj: “No no…sir, please lay back, this will be just kept over your face."
Now, I was really scared after all that pampering done to me. Why did Manoj used the word “face” ? I was about to ask her, how she is going to proceed, with the surgery. But just then, Mrs. Doctor said, “Please, open your mouth!...wider…ok”
phew!...i realized she is going to do it internally.
The surgery started, for the next few minutes, I gave attention to only voices and sounds and yes…the shloka which was still playing in the background.
Overall right from start some cotton plugs were placed in the mouth, incision was made, But Manoj was there to take out all the bleeding using a suction pipe, whenever, Manoj forgot to use the suction pipe, I could taste my own warm, salty blood, which was going down my food pipe. Mrs. Doctor, would inform Manoj, when to use suction and when to use irrigation. Irrigation was a process, in which, from a big injection like instrument (…a very big one … like the one they use for horses and other wild animals) which is attached by a pipe at its rear end constantly some liquid …as thin as water but coloured is poured into the mouth regularly.
So the conversation for the next few minutes was something like this…
Mrs. Doctor: “Suction …Manoj!”
wrooommmmmmm!!!!!
Mrs. Doctor: “Ok…ok….now irrigation…irrigation”
Mrs. Doctor: “Suction again…quick ..suction suction!”
wrooommmmmmm!!!!!
Mrs. Doctor: “now irrigation!”
And all this time I was looking at left side, and my face was also inclined a bit on the left side. Mrs. Doctor was not getting a good angle probably, because of my position.
Mrs. Doctor: “Turn your face and look at your right hand side. Look towards me!”
I turned, and believe me… “I HAD NEVER BEEN SO CLOSE TO A WOMAN BEFORE!!!” On top of that she said, “Look towards me!” …No girl or women has said me like that before. Although, Mrs. Doctor, said to look towards her, for a good angle to perform surgery, I sincerely tried to look at her. Only once I looked into her eyes, and after that I started looking here and there with my face turned right hand side. I swear, I realized I did not have the guts to look into a woman’s eyes. I saw on the right hand side, Mrs. Doctor’s daughter was looking at all this with curiosity. She wasn’t scared. For her this was something interesting. She came near to her mom, and whispered…
Avni (name changed): “….psst….Mom… ???”
Mrs. Doctor: “Avni…how many times I have told you!!!...not to come near me, touch me or talk me while I am performing surgery…what is it now?”
Avni: “...mom, I have one math problem!” (…she whispered again)
Mrs. Doctor: “Can’t you see I am doing a surgery?...Go outside first!!!, we will do your problems in the afternoon!...OUT YOU GO!..Sujata….please take her outside and take care she doesn’t come inside, unless I finish this.”
And after she said that, Mrs. Doctor, brought one instrument, which from the corner of my eye looked like some small pointed instrument, not a huge one…she came close and said “I will perform some drilling now!”
Me: “What the …!!! Drilling ??? huh ???” (in my mind)
And then for next few minutes, the sound of that machine was like, some electric saw used by carpenter or stone worker….wrrrrrrrr……..rrrr….rrrr!!! ….I wondered, what kind of art is the Doctor up to with my bloody wisdom tooth. And while she was drilling, she was taking out of my mouth something in tits and bits… which is all I could see from the lower edge of my eyes.
After few minutes she said, “Now it’s half done, other half of the tooth will be removed!! soon…Manoj…suction!!!”
Then she put another instrument a tong like instrument, but a weird sci-fi shape. And she was doing something….i could feel the pressure, as if she is try to FIX or ROOT something into my jaw.
Mrs. Doctor: “Manoj …support, give him support!!”
Manoj held my face by the jaw line with both his hands giving the support. Mrs. Doctor, was trying hard as it seemed, the instrument came out twice with jerk, but nothing was there between the clutches of the tong like instrument. She got up from her seat which was on my right hand side, and came near me taking a position, so that she will be able to take out the tooth…and …suddenly… “khhaddak ….khaadud”
Mrs. Doctor: “The tooth has been taken out! Now for the stitches...Manoj, put a cotton plug …and Mr. Patkar close the jaw now.”
In the meantime, she took the next set of her instruments and a scary black thread. which was not so tender like silk,…it was like the thread we use for flying kits….a harder one. She asked me to open the mouth and started putting the stitches, in goes the thread and out it comes….i could see the length of the thread from the corner of my eyes. It was long!!! I started thinking, now I have been given anesthesia, the effect will subside soon, but after that what it will feel like? The stitches…inside the mouth, what it will feel like?” and suddenly … “Snap!” …that was the sound of the thread being cut. The stitches had been put. She said, “Manoj, put another cotton plug. Mr. Patkar, you can close your mouth now. …come sit here!”
I rose up from the dentist seat, and sat on the chair nearby.
She started explaining, “After one hour remove, the cotton plug, rinse slowly with the mouth wash, and do not spit! Since that will need pressure, and that might harm the stitches. You must swallow, at least today. And in the next one hour, do not drink or eat anything. Talking of eating, today and tomorrow half of the day try to eat liquid and cool food like, ice-cream, coconut water etc., No hard or semi hard food….you must not be doing any chewing for next two days. Tomorrow, come at morning same time, and we will take a look at your stitches, if there is any problem.”
Me: “Ok..fine, I will come tomorrow, annn…can I get my tooth?”
Mrs. Doctor: “yeah…(she smiles) sure why not?....it is your property after all!... Manoj, please give these to Mr. Patkar!”
Manoj, put my wisdom tooth and it’s pieces in a plastic pouch, sealed it, and gave it to me. And then I left, the clinic, after giving a cheque of 3000 INR. My Lips and left side of my jaw seemed to be a bit swollen. That day I ate and ate and ate …lots of plain, cool, vanilla ice cream. It was fun initially, but boring later on. 2- 3 days, because of the medicines, my face had swollen like anything, and I use to sleep more than 8 hours a day. I have never slept in my whole life so much! Overall it was a great experience, I took the snap of the cotton plug, the wisdom tooth that was broken with a drilling machine into several pieces, and here it is…
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