Sunday, February 21, 2010

A visit to the dentist

The moment you tell someone that you are going to visit the dentist, you get the classic “You poor thing” type of look. Everyone sympathizes. Even the bravest feel a shudder for the ordeal ahead.

But the ache was a bit too much. So I gathered myself and went to the hospital around 12.30p.m. The nun at the window too had toothache or was in a bad mood.
“Is this the time to turn up for morning OP?”
“But…..”
“We close giving further appointments after 12.30p.m”
“I have real bad ache”, I said trying to look like a whimpering kid.
It worked.
“O.K. Just go upstairs and find out if she is willing see you”

And up I went. The paediatric OP was just across on the same floor. So, there were few kids, some crying and I almost wanted to cry out.

After a while, I knocked at the door. A nurse opened it with a questioning glance. I peeked in and smiled at the doc who was good friend of my dear husband. She was in the process of drilling and she just removed the mask, smiled back and asked to wait.

30 mins passed. The nurse came out with many files and gestured me to get inside. I was the last patient. Crying babies and children too had left.

She was getting ready as I waited on that chair remembering the ‘so sorry’ looks of friends and relatives who sympathized with me.
“What’s up?”
“Toothache. Filling fell off some days ago.”
“Let’s see. Pretty nice history. Two fills, one cap, one tooth missing and now two rotten”
“Two?”
“Yeah, two”
I gave a wan smile.
“We’ll have to take an X-ray”

She clipped the films to a handle and asked me to go the X-ray dept and get it washed as if it was the norm. I blinked. She had turned her back already. So, ‘poor me’ trooped off in search of the X-ray dept. It was a difficult condition. Reasons

  • I had a toothache and so had an awful look on face.
  • I am not a registered patient so can’t roam around
  • The sister I met earlier was at the ‘May I help You” counter.
    (To be continued....)

25 comments:

  1. Nice history indeed! :D
    Can't wait to read Part 2 since you haven't given us a verbal narration on it.
    And after reading this, I am sure about one thing. Dentists everywhere are the same - keen to scare the hell out of you, on making you feel like one who doesn't brush teeth regularly and leaving you clueless with your mouth wide open while he/she gets the equipments or may be like your dentist, who sent you off on a find-the-xray-mission!
    BRING ON PART 2............!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hullooo...i am really very eagerly waiting for the next part.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are laways two categories of doctor..one who scare the patient and others who make them feel comfortable irrespective of the problem....20 year back dr. dang in Noida scared me so much about my teeth that I never went to him again , and so far everything is fine:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. and then What happeend.. is it still aching.. how did u maange to get here though :) too much sweet things i guess ...

    ReplyDelete
  5. awww...

    Poor you. (Classic one)
    But its such an excruciating one.

    Hope you are "smiles" soon. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rich history indeed!! But you stopped as the tooth was about to be filled in :-P

    Waiting for continuation. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I understand ur pain..hope the next post will resolve ur problems..

    ReplyDelete
  8. lolzzzz I too pity you :D
    gosh your tooth history!!! you must definately have a sweeth tooth or is that one decayed too :P
    waiting for the next part...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awww I hope you get out of this ruckus soon...dentists look like demons when they come closed..I had gone to one with a big tummy and while the whole root canal thing went on his tummy rested on my leg..I was heavy for sure.....
    God bless you :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Destiny's child
    You kow me, I hardly eat sweets or those i between snacks.:P

    Kavita
    Wait...

    Samvedna
    This dear dentist can't scare even if she wants to.She has a permanent amused expression.

    Bikram
    Now I get the meaning of sweet nothings of life. You eat more sweet and you have nothing left intact in your mouth.:)

    Tulika
    Let's see...

    Insignia
    The decision to fill or not to fill shall be taken after viewing the X-rays

    Tomz
    One more in the queue.

    Rajlakshmi
    Blame the samosas and tea at office.

    A new Beginning
    I'm lucky. My dentist has the hour glass figure.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would rather wait for the next one

    ReplyDelete
  12. Do you eat a lot of chocolates? I think so. :P
    Or else such a splendid hishhhtry!!! :D

    The last time I went to a dentist was when I was a little child. Don't remember crying, but very well remember the dentist asking my mom to buy me an ice-cream soon after the treatment. ;) So it was kinda cool. Hehe.. :D

    Eagerly waiting for the next part. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. arre baap re...it must be bad re...my husband got 4 root canals done; poor thing..

    waiting for part two..

    ReplyDelete
  14. want more more more :D
    love your style of narration.

    my dentist would always scare me with his "i think you need a root-canal treatment" statement. So I stopped visiting his clinic. Now I feel I should coz my yet to be filled tooth is giving me nightmares :(

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bk Chowla
    Posting it next Monday

    Karthik
    Thank Ye Gods for nice set teeth

    Neha
    Dard mein nani tak yaad aa jaati hai, tum baap ki baat kar rahi ho!

    Shruthi
    Maybe my next post will get you ready for a visit to the dentist

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ohh this reminds me oh that horrible period when i carried Bristles for a complete 1.5 years....So Freaking brutal....

    Cant wait for the second part!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Everytime I eat chocolates, I get sweet reminders of the 4 cavities that were supposed to be filled 2 year back. I'm not particularly fond of dentists - keeping my mouth open for hours while the doc goes rambling and drilling all the same, when all I can say is ah, ahhh, ahhhhh.... Eagerly awaiting Part II as one of your "sympathisers"!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Pratik Gupta
    So, you know. But wait till you see part II.

    RGB
    I know, I know hw fill you cavities with chocolates:D

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good Luck!! Waiting for the next post!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Please continue. You stopped at the interesting time.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Swatantra
    Be here to read the rest of it.

    SG
    Had some jobs, so had to break it in two parts.

    ReplyDelete
  22. please.... continue!

    The guy in the xray room had no idea where to focus?! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  23. you poor thing...hmm..let me read the second part now..

    ReplyDelete