My Root Canal Diaries - Chapter 1

So to start with, I was in this blistering tooth ache more than a month. Armed with work and social duties , I kind of prayed that the pain vanished magically and that my tooth would heal itself.


Nothing of the sorts did happen, to make things worse I started to feel a cavity and I tell you that's the worse thing you can feel with your tongue. So in pain and knowing that this hole in my tooth was going to now burn a hole in my pocket, I gathered all the courage I could and feeling no less than a Game of Throne's character who was ready for a war, I entered the dentist's clinic.


Appointment 1 -
To my dismay, it was pitch dark and I could him sitting there with all his assistants and helpers and I felt more scared than ever. It was like I was being punished by my tooth itself for not taking an early action and now my tooth and me were in this love hate relationship where all things lined up were making sure that the pain did not go away. After waiting for an hour, the electricity did not come back neither did his inverter come to life so I had to leave with my painful tooth in the hope of getting it sorted in the next appointment.

Appointment 2 -
Again no electricity and the appointment got postponed. I was now feeling my tooth jumping with joy as if saying " You deserve this, I kept hinting you take me to a dentist and you ignored me completely". Next appointment taken and patience level crossed


Appointment 3
Finally the procedure starts. First the dentist checks my tooth, its just next to the wisdom tooth so you can imagine his struggle to reach it. Post an dental X ray and what not he broke the news to me, that my tooth was almost broken due to the cavity and that we would have to go for a root canal. My feelings were similar to that of an actress who was just been told to do and intimate scene with an actor she detested personally. I had no option so I said continue and it opened the floodgates to sittings, a total of 5 sittings and a cost which was giving me a pain in other parts of the body.


So the sitting one began, I was seated on a chair which to me looked like a torture chamber seat from early 70's on which nasty things would happen to human beings. The dentist wore gloves and tested a mini drill and a chill ran down my spine. He then injected the area near my emotionally charged tooth and I screamed as the needle penetrated by gums, this is the kind of pain criminals should be given. Post the injection I did not feel a thing, all I could see is the dentist working with a mini drill inside my mouth, freaking hell. This is why I get scared of a dentist, because he is the only one who can put a running drill into your mouth and all you can do is wait for him to complete his war with the cavity.

30 minutes later , I saw him with a chip of my tooth and was amount about to faint but I managed to be awake and sane. Few minutes later the first sitting was done. With the right side of my face and whole of my brain completely numb, I sat there clueless while he began to explain what he had just done and what was left to be done. All I understood was that he had removed the cavity and would need another sitting for a similar cleaning.

I returned home with a poker face and could not feel any pain, in my head I was rejoicing the fact that there was no hint of any pain. By my celebration did not last long as just about an hour later my numbness faded and my tooth woke up only to realize that half of it was drilled. The pain was unbearable and I could not speak or smile or eat for that matter and had to do all of these under social compulsions.


The second sitting after this was similar, more drilling and more pain. Tablets making me dizzy and light headed, I am now awaiting the third sitting.

From all of this I realized one thing, Even our life needs a root canal time and again, doesn't it? We need to empty it of the cavities of ego, anger and all things bad so that we don't destroy the whole of it, even if we have lost a few moments of peace.

Like in a root canal, I learnt that pain is essential and so is trust. Someone might be giving you pain, but you have to at times understand that the pain might be an outcome of their care; it might be their attempt to make you a better person. 

And that the holes in our lives need to be filled before they swallow our entire existence.



Photo credit - Pixabay.com

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