on Time at
the Dentist
- Mihir Veera
This
phrase is totally dedicated to all the dentists around the globe. May this work
of fiction or may be exaggeration, encourage more people to this profession.
NA’AH,
just kidding!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a
happy time reading this.
Or else just pretend you did enjoy
it!!!!!!!!!!
It was afternoon during the rainy
season. And believe it or not it was raining very heavily!!! J. I had already taken an appointment from the
dentist because I knew I would have to wait and I hate waiting. The appointment
was for 13:45, but to beat the rains I left from home early. And consequently I
reached the Clinic a bit early, something around 15 minutes early to be more
specific. To my surprise there were 2 people present in the waiting room. And
the doctor was practicing on the third one. I said practicing, to which even I
am not sure why do the call it so? If they always practice, then when do they
really work? Such questions are never really answered, are they? Anyways there
were still two out of four seats empty and I occupied the third.
Due to the rains all the appointments were
re-scheduled and even the Dentist had hard time managing them. Of the two
persons sitting besides me, one was a male and other a female. Not an odd
combination though, but they didn’t knew each other as they were not talking.
The person inside was a kid, 09-10 years of age. He may be here for getting rid
of one of his milk tooth I suppose, and even the sounds made inside the cabin
gave an affirmation to my belief. I knew it was a kid from his sneakers that
were left outside the door of the cabin. So now I had one hope that one of the
two persons sitting besides me may be with the kid and was just here to
accompany him. The act of tooth removal doesn’t take long time. So now I only
had to worry about one of the two, as per my belief. Hope it doesn’t take long.
It really becomes boring atmosphere when you are
alone in a waiting room with no one to talk too. So I approached the man for a
piece of entertainment. I enquired about his professional as well as a part of
his personal life. He replied each question with suitable answers followed by
the same question addressed to me. This made me ask only those questions which
I was comfortable answering, not revealing some of the personal stuff which I
would avoid to answer. But that did not matter as it was clearing my boredom,
which was my motive of making the conversation. It did not lasted longer
though, it fells nice to know new people.
I was just planning to ask the lady when Ms.
Assistant interrupted my thought. I did not convict her as she was here for admitting
one of us. Of course it was first come first serve basis, but I really wanted
that the sequence should follow by the order of appointment. HURRAY! Hopes do
come true! The female was the kid’s mother and so I have to only wait till one
more patients. The man did not take long, and I don’t have a clue why. But
whatever it may be I was happy that even I won’t have to wait a long time
there.
Some happiness doesn’t live longer. They are bound
to die sooner or later… Sooner or later some categories of happiness cease to
exist. I think you may have got my point till now. Let’s not move away from the
topic. The moment I entered I was scared. My legs froze at the entrance itself.
The dentist was waiting near the chair on which I was supposed to sit. Two
assistants waiting besides her to assist in the torture they were going to
address to me. I knew she was a lady because I called her for an appointment.
All three of them were looking at me, like they were welcoming me to that
torture room. The dentist was smiling at me, but I can’t tell whether it was a smile
for ‘don’t worry’ or a wicked smile saying ‘so u decided to come’
because of the mask she was wearing. But I can say she was smiling as the mask
had been all horizontal stretching to both of her ears and both of her cheek
bones bulging out of the mask. I didn’t want to enter but some part of my brain
was saying ‘Then why the hell are you here for, you Moron’!’ without any
second thought I entered the cabin. There was a chair placed in the middle of
the room asking me to sit on it. It was added with extra cushion and comfort
you require in those special parts of your body. An all in one – a complete
temptation.
It’s hard to resist a temptation, you know. So
obviously I went for it. Not a smart decision – as you may say, but hey! You
never know until you try. The more I got closer to the chair, the more I felt
the fear inside me maturating. I could not obviate the tools that were kept
near the chair. I was about to ask the lady – are these things u goanna
assault me with, but I kept my thought to myself. They looked similar to
the tools that a surgeon will use for an operation; but this time the patient would
be conscious and well aware of everything, and that would be me. To draw
another analogy you can compare them with a tools similar to a soldier uses on
a battlefield – ‘weapons of mass destruction’. I may start begging now
for letting me go home, but gradually the lust of the chair bought me in and
there was no excuse to get out. So in I was waiting for my worst nightmare.
Among the tools there were; a drill machine,
not the similar one of the carpenter but an even more dangerous. When switched
ON, it made a noise – ziz ziz zzi zzi zzzz ziz ziz – That was not enough
irritating for you then think that, that thing would be put into your mouth.
There was a tray kept on the table above the drill handler contained a box full
of drill bits – for different types of tooth. So easy to replace; remove
one from the drill, search for the appropriate one, pick it up with pickers
because they are so tiny; and put them back in the drill. Then there was a
thing similar to what Shepard use with them, the wooden stick sharpened and
folded on the top just like a hook, but this one was flat at the bottom and
small enough to almost fit into your hands. Hard though to tell which one is
top and which one is bottom, that’s up to you how u hold it. I learned that the
sharp, bent end was for digging and the other flat end was for padding. I would
call this one pincher. Boxes of cotton were kept in a corner; I
suppose half of the total cultivation of cotton would be wiped out by the clinical
people – doctors, scientists, dentists and other s(ts)’. No cloth or other
thing but cotton was used to clean all the equipments; I wonder would they use
paper towels or do away with cottons. Well it’s their cup of tea and we rather
not take a sip. The other equipment was same as the drill but would go
slower for the frail tooth– even more irritating. There was even something of a
shape of garden bucket – similar to one used for watering plants but all
packed, having two buttons at the top; one for water and other for blower.
There was one similar to a 0.5 lead pencil body, empty from inside, only the
top button kept intact. I thought the dentist must have broken it while making
notes, but it was “filler” as they call it. Wonder what it can fill? There was
a mirror which was pretty obvious to be kept there. Some equipments I could not
even predict why they were there, but they were.
All three of them gathered around me waiting for
my mouth to be open so they can all pounce on it. In a matter of fact I did.
Four hands came rushing towards me without even bothered to get crashed with
each other. The most annoying thing is that you can never see what was going to
happen in there, not even feel it. And so we worry more. You must really trust
your dentist, more than you trust your barber, because in the former you cannot
direct the process in your own way; you can hardly see what is going on. The
fifth hand belonging to an assistant switched on a bright lamp placed above my
head, focusing to the entire face area. It was the sign saying ‘either way u
cannot see what is happening; if u stare at me I’ll surely blind you; so you
better keep your eyes shut!!”. Even if you open your eyes all you can see
were the light, two foreheads and a chin. The woman possessing the forehead was
hidden behind the mask. So, I can’t describe it to you how she looked.
One of the assistant inserted a pipe in my mouth,
when the doctor said suction. First I thought she was telling to me to suck it,
but then I realized it was the work of the machine, to suck the saliva out of
my mouth and also the debris (dead parts) of my tooth. She said that she was
cleaning my tooth and when done she would fill it with cement, which was
temporary. Then in the second sitting, she would remove the cement following
the same process and fill it with silver. Prices of silver are at all time
high. I was wondering what refund I would get if I sell my tooth. I hope prices
of silver still increases.
The drill had passed the upper enamel of my tooth
and had reached the cavity. Now it had really started to pain. I wanted to
scream, but I was pretending to be calm. Because of the pain my lips wanted to
kiss each other and press my teeth hard. In short my mouth began to close. The
dentist screamed “open”. Once I almost reached the zip of my pant, but kept all
the humor to myself and opened my mouth wider. This incident occurred numerous
times. And I really was counting the time to end.
After some time the drill stopped and the suction
pump was removed, I was asked to close my mouth. I so wanted to leave the
place, but I remembered the process and stayed glued. She used the filler and
secreted some liquid into my tooth, which tasted like clove juice. She then
filled my tooth with cement and pressed it really hard. I thought it would take
an exit from my chin, but it didn’t. She was shaping it properly, so that it
won’t bulge out and create trouble while biting or chewing. Such a nice lady,
wasn’t she? I could only have a mental picture of what was happening inside my
mouth. Even my tongue could not feel anything because of the syrup.
Finally she told me that it was over. ‘I can
leave and live happily ever after’ – that’s what I thought. She opened her
dairy and slapped me with a new date as another appointment. It really hurts;
hurts badly.
To tell you a secret – It was not that bad
after all; exaggeration can surely cross its limits sometimes.