The first wisdom tooth I ever had out was horrendous. The dentist I had at that time had to drill into the bone..and said afterwards, between his apologies, that it should have been done in hospital under general anaesthetic. Later that night my throat swelled up alarmingly, my face turned green, black and blue and the pain...Oh! He came out in the middle of the night when my mum called him up, and wrote me a prescription for painkillers so strong that I was more than a little out of it for a few days..
Imagine my horror when, a few years later I had to have another one out, on the other side...One impacted wisdom tooth is more than enough for any lifetime. THIS time however, I was down in the West Country and was sent to the Royal Naval Hospital in Plymouth (no longer there now)...where all the doctors and nurses wore naval uniform and the place crackled with discipline and bravery...
Shake! Tremmor! SHIVER!!
I knew I had no option but to gird my loins and put on a brave face, or be laughed out of town...so I sat in the chair, gingerly...and in walked the lady dentist. She was neat, efficient and bloody wonderful! I was sat there with my mouth still open waiting for the horrors to start, my anxious hands hidden under my jersey, my frightened eyes screwed up tight...when she said "You can open your eyes now. It's all done and dusted."
I could have kissed her! :0)
So now, I have no wisdom teeth left. I only had 2, thank goodness. (no surprises there then!) ;0)
Whoever 'invented' teeth got it sooooooooooooo wrong!
Oh, and I've only ever toothache once in my life, and that pain was so bad that I literally couldn't sit down..So weird. I've never been so pleased to see a needle full of anaesthetic in my LIFE! :0) But that was cured by a filling..
Throb, throb, throb......
My children never had any fillings at all, still don't to this day, at 23 and 15, which I find amazing. They have no fear of the dentist whatsoever, as they've only ever known one lady, who is so kind and so gentle, deals with everything with a great sense of humour and calm...and she always has the radio on too, which is relaxing. I travel miles to go back to her..as she's so different from any dentist that's gone before.
I still can't watch that terrible scene where Laurence Olivier had his teeth drilled into without anaesthetic....can't recall the movie's name now, but shudder, shudder, shudder!