My Worst Nightmare

To tell you the truth (an embarrassing one that is), a visit to the Dentist is a nightmare for me. Which explains why I haven't gotten myself to start wearing braces. I have uneven teeth as well as a few 'extra' ones here and there. Recently though, I have started thinking of getting dental braces for myself. Not just for aesthetic purposes but also for professional purpose. Why? Since I am teaching language, I need to properly enunciate the sounds to enable the students to correctly pronounce the words. As it is, I have problems in pronouncing the /t/ sound.

So today we had a talk on Dental Care by Dr. Anto Wasono, a dentist with the local dental clinic. After the talk, we were given free dental checks where we can schedule an appointment for follow up treatment. As I was standing in line, I was chanting "Think happy thoughts, Think happy thoughts" to myself over and over again. Flashes of painful experience visiting the dentist when I was a child (and one that involves 6-year-old me punching the daylights out of the dentist). Aiyo, bergegar rasa lutut... But I have to put a brave front in front of my colleagues and some were very supportive (Thanks peeps!).

When it was my turn I informed Dr. Anto that I'm planning to get dental braces and would like to know how many teeth has to be extracted before the procedure can be done. He is a very friendly and nice dentist. So, he pried and prodded my teeth and he informed me something that I feared the most;

" Your wisdom tooth is infected. You'd have to get it extracted."

Oh no! That will require dental surgery where they will cut open my gum and break the tooth into pieces before extracting it. Reading it makes you wince already kan?

"Hmm... To get braces done you will need to extract two from the upper jaw and another two from your lower jaw. First we will do scaling for you to remove the calculus (it's the hard deposit on the teeth not the mathematics lah! See, I do learn something from the talk.. Hehe) and next we will extract the extra tooth in your lower jaw. It is useless and will only make it difficult for you to effectively clean your teeth."

Argh!!! Cabut gigi?! The only way I can muster enough grit to get my tooth extracted is to bring my Dad along. He's the only one who can make me lemah lutut and submit to the torture extraction procedure. Huhuhu... Nanges!