Dentist Phobia
Since I was 6 years old, I have been having a phobia of dentists. Ever since I bolted from a dentist chair and dashed to the carpark, frightening the guts of my poor parents who gave chase, I have been extracting all my milk teeth using a piece of string. When I grew older, I realised that I would not be able to remove my wisdom teeth using any string in the world. Yesterday, I went for upper and lower wisdom teeth surgery. The upper one was giving me problems and I decided to get rid of the lower one as well. How many of you are scared of dentists too?
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| Quaker Oats to the rescue |
What to eat after a wisdom tooth surgery?
Yesterday, I was very hungry but it was so uncomfortable to eat that I only managed to swallow some porridge and I was unable to chew the pork and liver at all. I was very sad that I wasted the ingredients. Therefore, if it is Day 1 of your wisdom tooth surgery, please buy fish porridge instead of pork. As a result, I only ate a Bao before my surgery and some porridge for the whole day.
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| Day 1 - Mixed Pork Porridge |
When I woke up in the morning, I was pleasantly surprised by how much my stomach had flattened and the excess fats around my waist looked trimmed, just by eating very little during dinner! I know this is temporal bliss but maybe I can start eating less for my dinner.
For breakfast, I definitely had to go with fish. Too lazy to go out, I decided to eat Instant Oatmeal. This Quaker Oats has come to my rescue many times in my life, sustaining me whenever I am sick and have no appetite. It goes well with honey, fruits and nuts and even Nutella. Today, I tried with tuna. I love tuna in everything. It was edible and I was able to consume most of it without comfort. Yeah, oats with fish is the saviour for wisdom tooth surgery patient!
For breakfast, I definitely had to go with fish. Too lazy to go out, I decided to eat Instant Oatmeal. This Quaker Oats has come to my rescue many times in my life, sustaining me whenever I am sick and have no appetite. It goes well with honey, fruits and nuts and even Nutella. Today, I tried with tuna. I love tuna in everything. It was edible and I was able to consume most of it without comfort. Yeah, oats with fish is the saviour for wisdom tooth surgery patient!
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| Day 2 - Mashed Egg Tart for tea break |
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| Day 2 - Steamed Egg with Tofu |
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| Happy Call Steamer and Frying Pan for steaming egg |
I posted on SHC and thanks to them, I have gathered some good ideas to try out for the next few days - steamed eggs with tofu, yoghurt, Tau Hway, sliced fish mee sua, fish porridge, fish hor fun...
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| Day 3 - Baked Beans with eggs and tuna |
What to expect during a wisdom tooth surgery?
Since I have dentist phobia, I decided to have my surgery done at Thomson Dental Care at Novena Specialist Centre. My dentist is Dr Lim Tse Chiun. She is very gorgeous looking, standing at 1.8m. She looks even more beautiful in person than the picture online. I went to her because of word of mouth.
During the surgery, she was very gentle and always explained every step in advance. She was very encouraging and kept saying, "Good, you did VERY well." Surprisingly, her LA shots were not painful, unlike my previous ones. Only one shot on the nerve located in my lower jaw was painful. She comforted me and said that she had to do that to put the nerve to sleep. Staring at her huge sparkling eyes was so calming.
Although she was gentle and patient, she was very efficient. She administered the LA shots on upper and lower at the same time. 10 minutes later, she poked me with a sharp object to test if the LA had kicked in. Subsequently, she removed the upper wisdom tooth very quickly. Initially, I was worried that a female dentist might not have the strength to remove wisdom tooth. She did not show any lack of confidence and was very fast.
For the lower one, it was severely impacted. She explained that I would hear grinding sounds. The grinding sounds went on for a while and she also managed to remove the tooth easily. Both surgeries took less than an hour. I arrived at 9.15am. By the time she explained to me what would happen next and got me to sign a form, it should be 9.30am. When I came out of the room, it was only 10.10am!
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| I relaxed in the lounge for two hours, watching Odette on CNA. |
What are the DOs and DON'Ts after a wisdom tooth surgery?
Dr Lim told me to
Dos
- Bite on the gauze for 1 hour. After 1 hour, if the gauze is less than 50% soaked with blood, I should stop using it. If it is still soaked, I will fold it into a quarter size and bite on it for another hour. I used 3 gauzes out of the 10 she gave me.
- Continue to brush my teeth. She said that my natural reflex would cause me to stop a tooth away whenever I brush. She asked me to brush a few cm further in my mouth whenever I feel like stopping. She also mentioned that even if my brush touches the stitches, it is fine. Oral hygiene has to be of paramount importance.
- Rinse my mouth very gently whenever I brush my teeth.
- Use a green solution to rinse my mouth after every brush for 1 week.
- Consume ONLY LUKEWARM drinks and food.
- Consume my painkillers and anti-swelling medication after food.
Don'ts
- Do not consume hot or spicy food.
- Do not spit or rinse my mouth for the next 6 hours after surgery. If there is blood, I am supposed to swallow it and not spit it out.
- Do not lift heavy objects or participate in strenuous activity.
From my previous endodontist (dentist specialising in root canal) at Thomson Dental Care (He is at Q&M now.)
- Do gentle and gradual mouth exercises to prevent numbness of the jaws.
- Do not consume drinks with a straw.
From my own experience
- On the day after your surgery, DO NOT SNEEZE! I was not in pain until I sneezed. I felt an excruciating pain on the right side of my face. Thankfully, the pain subsided.
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| Almost wanted to use desktop |
My two surgeries cost around S$1300 and I am able to use my Medisave. I did not quote prices at other dental clinics.
I hope my that my blogpost has helped those who are thinking of wisdom tooth surgery. After my ordeal, I advise all of you who have impacted wisdom teeth to remove them before any pain.
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