Spice of Life | Questioning evolution sitting in a dental chair

A week had passed in denial of the discomfort that my wisdom tooth was causing when the unsettling realisation finally dawned upon me that an appointment could no longer be avoided.

Most of us have our brains wired for fear when it comes to visiting a dentist. After all, who would appreciate all the drilling, filling and billing, not to mention the invasion of personal space for having one’s mouth wide open and presenting it to the dentist who would treat it as a road under a construction project.

I am not aware how others choose their dentists, but the three factors that helped me choose mine were: A jovial doctor, three minutes away from home and hassle-free parking outside his clinic. And hence the appointment for this death or glory visit was scheduled.

My last visit to the a tooth-yanker had been aeons ago to get a cavity filled and the only thing I remember from that visit is that in complete ignorance of the stretcher-like chair meant for patients, I had seated myself on the doctor’s stool prompting the dentist to exclaim, “Excuse me, That’s my seat.”

This time, if nothing else, at least I know my place.

The doctor studies the X-ray and on finding something peculiar beckons his two juniors/students. “The upper one has roots going on till the ear-drum, while the lower one apart from being huge has roots precariously close to a nerve,” he says.

Soon, the two ‘jaw-smiths in the making ’are curiously peering into my mouth. The gravity of my condition fails to register on me as I attempt to graciously accept this not-so-sought-after feather in my cap for being an interesting case study for medical sciences.

The next day, as I sit in the waiting room, injected with anaesthetic solution, I wonder what I could have done to prevent being in the situation I found myself in.

Surely, I wasn’t to be blamed. The whole evolution was to be blamed, for now creating jaws so small that wisdom tooth can no longer fit in. Since we no longer need that extra grinding power needed to dig into raw meat like early humans. shouldn’t we be now be born devoid of them? However, Nature is always perfect in its creation, perhaps it is we humans evolving faster than it can keep pace with!

The empty socket after extraction gives new definition to pain and I realise the actual cost isn’t the bill but the two weeks of my precious lifetime spent convalescing at home. Yet, I remind myself to be grateful for having painkillers by my bedside and for having undergone this procedure in today’s age and era. What if I were a warrior in ancient times fighting across borders atop a horse, brought down to knees by toothache and pleading with the locals to lend me a pain-relieving herb.

I wonder what motivational mantras the dentists recite to be able to report to work every morning, brimming with energy to examine teeth in various stages of decay.

I later discover that despite the nauseating side-effects of antibiotics, I had a relatively easier experience as any other doctor might have taken recourse to cutting the bone to extract the tooth in a five-hour surgery while my experienced dentist had deftly yanked off the truant-tooth in 15 minutes flat.

As he removes the stitches, a sense of accomplishment writ large on his face, he utters, “Happy birthday, ma’am!”

This indeed was a rebirth! I return home with greater respect for dentists of the world. If they don’t show gentleness and grace, and pain management, the work is almost barbaric.

The writer is a Jalandhar-based freelance contributor and can be reached at rupymand@gmail.com