It surprised me when I found out that it was rare, and not recommended, that all four wisdom teeth were taken out at the same time. A colleague of mine had a tooth with a badly cracked enamel extracted last Friday and while we were discussing his ordeal in great detail, I mentioned that the last time I had my teeth extracted was when I was 17, and I took them all out at one instance. Another friend responded to a Facebook question I put out regarding this, and commented that it’s likely because you need 2 weeks of sick leave for one tooth, and taking out 4 would be close to 8 weeks. (btw Gabriel: Sick leave doesn’t work like that.. ) But.. It wasn’t like that for me! I remember I had it extracted during school holidays, probably one of the longer ones, and other than the few dizzy and bleeding hours due to the general anesthesia I was under. Side note though, GA is no fun at all. I couldn’t close my mouth because my mind was awake my body was not, and was also unable to swallow my saliva, so the blood was flowing out mixed with the saliva (okay too much info).
I also remember I was given a hooked syringe for me to clean the 4 gaping holes at the back of my mouth after every meal. It really tested my ability to twist my wrist, especially trying to ensure I clean the top holes well to prevent infection. I also remember the strings used to sew up the holes were so thick and uncomfortable that I kept feeling at it with my tongue. Until one fine day, I felt something stuck in my ‘teeth’ and tried so hard to pull it out. And lo and behold, I had the shock of my life when I pulled out a 3cm thick black string. I had to hurriedly make sure I was not bleeding because I took out the threads.
My threads, if I remember right, took 2 sessions to remove. My gums were too swollen the first time round, and some thread were still stuck. And I remember waiting at National Dental Centre was more torturous than the operation itself. They didn’t have PSP, NDSL, iPhone and the like ten years ago..
This is probably the best remembered incident of my life, since I have such bad memory. Hah.