Woo, boy.
I've just had my wisdom tooth pulled.
I'd been sort of dreading today for weeks now, since my last appointment at the dentist. He poked somewhere in the back of my mouth and it hurt. The teeth were all sensitive because they were being crowded by that one wisdom tooth that had appeared some time before. My dentist said it had to come out and we could do it that same day - he's enthusiastic that way. But it being my birthday I preferred to make a new appointment.
You know how when women are pregnant, other women love to tell them all their horror stories of their own labour? How they were in pain for days and about the ruptures and the stitches and whatnot? It's the same with getting your teeth pulled. People love to tell you about the time when the anesthetic stopped working halfway through, how the tooth had to be sawed in half, how the blood spattered on the dentist's glasses...
Really, just what you need to hear.
I've had teeth pulled before. Four of them, to make room for the rest. That was at least fifteen years ago. I remembered that it hurt to have the injection for the anesthetic and that it took some time for that to start working. That it didn't hurt but the sound was very unpleasant. (I also remember that I came home from the dentist just before dinner time, with a huge hole in my lower jaw - it felt huge at least - and my mother had made rice. It kept disappearing into that hole). I expected the same for today, that it would take at least a quarter of an hour.
You know what happened? I got into the chair, I got the injections (that still doesn't feel pleasant), I felt some pulling in my head and heard the same sounds as before. Then there was some business with a piece of thread for a stitch and that was it! All over and done in less than five minutes!
So that was a rather impressive experience. Not because it hurt - it didn't really. But because it was over before I knew it!
The dentist also said I wouldn't need painkillers. Half an hour after the procedure I say he's wrong :) /me goes off to find some ibuprofen