My first ATTC(medical leave) of my army career...

It's been a week since I extracted my first wisdom tooth from Alexandra Hospital. Albeit a bit painful, the wisdom tooth operation left me grasping in wonder the things technology can do these days.

The operation started at 4.15pm and it was all over after 15mins. Firstly, at 4pm exactly, my name was called by a staff nurse. I proceeded into something like a waiting room to have my identification verified(again) and my blood pressure taken. At 144, my blood pressure was way to high for a normal person and she thought I was suffering from an anxiety attack prior to the operation. Hahaha. I assured her that my bp was 'normal' as I've had mild hbp since dunno when. She had to look up my medical records again and consult a doctor before being satisfied.

Finally I was cleared to go! I went into the operation room and was ushered to something like an operating table/bed. Didnt know it would look that scary and serious. I've always thought that the operation would be done on those normal comfy looking leathery 'dentist' chair.

"Ok erm Mr. Foo, this will take only a short while ah, just lie back close your eyes and it'll be over in a short while", the dentist assured me as her assistants put a thick blanket over my entire body.

She then put an additional green surgery cloth over my stomach. The dentist proceeded by smearing some horrible bitter-tasting cream all over my lips and inner walls of my cheeks. She explained that it is to numb the whole area. After that, she took out a syringe and injected around 7 times different parts of my mouth. The anaesthetic I suppose. They sting like hell. She injected the gums, inner walls of the cheeks, the area under the tongue, and dunno where else.

"Okay we'll just have to wait to let the anaesthetic take effect."

True enough in 5 mins, the whole left side of me mouth was senseless and numb. The operation is about to start. Whee! A tray of metallic tools was placed at my stomach for easy reach I believe. The assistant then put a large cloth with holes over my face. Covering the whole face except the mouth and nose. Sheesh. Now I won't have a chance to see how the operation went. I adjusted my face as much as I dared to peek through the tiny holes. Here's what I supposed happened later on.

Firstly, the dentist takes something like a pair of pliers and started pulling my wisdom tooth violently. I hated this part of the operation most. Although I could not feel any pain, I can feel my head being jerked in different directions. The jerking and pulling of my tooth went on for sometime. She then squirted some weird liquid into the area(to wash off excessive blood???). By then you'd get a mixture of blood, saliva, cream and what nots congregated into a gigantic pool at the back of your mouth. I duly swallowed everything in order not to spit or throw up. Oo. I forgot to mention that your tongue is numb too! So you won't get to taste the metallic sensation of blood oozing out. Hehehe.

Now comes the fun part, I gathered that the dentist must sort of have used something like a mini electric chain saw to do the next procedure. The dentist sawed my wisdom tooth in half. Right through the gums even. By then you can feel and see(for me) even, tiny bits of your tooth flying out of your mouth or richocheting off the walls of your mouth. Its exactly like sawing through a block of wood like D&T lessons in secondary school days. The electric saw must have been pretty powerful and sharp in order to saw through the tooth with such precision and speed. I clenched my fist and kept as still as I could. I do not wanna know what happens when the dentist makes a wrong move or gets accidentally knocked in the arm at that time.

Next, she extracted the tooth half by half. Ka-Chink! You can hear the sound of tooth being dropped against a metal plate. A few more seconds of sawing here and there and my tooth is extracted! She then had to sew back the wound which took a sometime. I did not get to feel the thread going through in and out of my gums as mentioned by my elder brother. Liar! While I doubt that she really used needle and thread to do this via the traditional in and out sewing fasion, I have to wonder how did a piece of black looking thread got between my gums as I stared at the mirror these days.

"Okay Mr.Foo the operation is done," said the dentist as she inserted a large piece of gauze to stop the bleeding. I was told to bite as was brought to the same waiting room. I had to wait for another 30mins before the staff nurse took out the blood soaked gauze and inspected the wound. After making sure that I was not bleeding excessively, I was free to collect my antibiotics, painkillers, extra gauzes and some other weird medication and go home.

I got 5 days of ATT C (medical leave) for that! But I'm supposed to be on leave anyway, besides I've never attended C in my WHOLE army life before. So I'm no chao keng guy. Hahaha. That was quite an experience.

I must applaud the hospital for its professionalism and dedication towards its clients. For the few times I was there, the appointments were always kept on time and I didnt have to wait long. At the pharmacy, a nurse goes around distributing free apples to all patients. At the individual clinics, there's a corner where you can make coffee/tea for yourself. An sms is sent to you a week and also a day before your appointment/operation to remind you. A staff calls you a day after the operation to find out if you are fine, ask if it's still bleeding etc, and reminds you to take your medication, complete your antibiotics course, what too do if bleeding still persists and all that. That's what I call good hospital service.

The best part of the operation is, you get to keep your tooth after that! So here's a piece of me for all you people to see!

This picture was taken when I got home:

You can even see a piece of bloody gum on it! Told you the electric saw was sharp. My tooth got disected neatly in half. It was so well done that mom thought I extracted 2 teeth at a go. Hahaha.

2 days later:

The gum was starting to decompose so I decided to throw it away instead. I really do not know what to do with it or how to prevent it from rotting.

Anyway I do have to extract another tooth soon at the very least. So anybody knows how to frame up a tooth or preserve it for display or something? Please share.

Hope the tooth fairy grants me what I wished for...