I’m normally not a queasy person but I don’t know what happened to me as I got older, I have been more finicky about health issues – particularly my oral health. Being in the dental profession, I should be more confident since I know the physiology of it all. I take great care of my teeth that I haven’t had any filling procedures since I was 10. My aunt, who was my dentist when I was kid, did a great job on me. She pulled my baby teeth and did some fillings with me being oblivious to it. So when I entered dental school and worked on patients, I never really empathize to what they were feeling. I thought it was all dandy.

Then came my next major dental procedure which was when I was 26 and had my wisdom teeth extracted. That one was traumatic in terms of injections and post-op pain. I wasn’t scared of the procedure, I would love to have a mirror and watch what the dentist was doing. Actually once I had a dermatofibroma removed from my arm and I was looking at the procedure the whole time. It’s surreal that while the doctor was slicing my skin and taking out the mass, I was not feeling anything. I was enjoying learning what went on. So the procedures for me were ok but what I really hated were the injection and post-op pain. I still have one wisdom tooth left but I’m crossing my fingers that it doesn’t need pulling out.

Two days ago I had my tooth filling replaced and of course SOP before the procedure was dental injection. Now I can say with emphasis that I HATE DENTAL INJECTIONS! The topical anesthetic was so gross and the back of my throat was numb and the feeling was uncomfortable. When the dentist inserted the needle, I didn’t feel the puncture (because the dentist had a “painless” needle) but a twinge later when I felt the anesthetic solution moving inside. Then the back of my throat, half of my lower lip, and my half of my tongue got so numb that it was hard for me to talk, swallow, and taste anything. Being that numb was a good thing because I didn’t feel anything when my tooth is getting drilled on. But the anesthesia stayed on for 5 more hours after the procedure. I felt my lips were fat, I couldn’t swallow well, I felt that I’ve been battered and bruised. When the numbness wore off, it was hard for me to open my mouth wide and there was this extreme soreness at the injection site. Uggh! Great!

I’m really a good patient – I’m not twitchy or anxious or whining. But I could say like any other patients, I’m a normal one – I hate dental procedures and I hate dental injections! Now I can really comprehend why a lot of people are scared of the dentist. So for my family members whom I’ve worked on, I apologize for having traumatize or hurt you. I feel you.

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I’ve been studying dentistry for a long time and I couldn’t remember the taste of the anesthesia, or as older people knows it, the novocaine. That’s how good my dentist was. Until I had my wisdom tooth extracted here. I got a faint taste of it. It was bitter. Everytime after my boss injected the anesthesia on a patient, he would say to the patient to take a rinse and wash away the taste. Apparently the novocaine is a bitter tasting liquid. I would liken it to a bitter melon or bitter gourd or “ampalaya”  (for Filipinos). That’s not bad for us Filipinos since we have ampalaya dishes. Bitter melon is actually good for diabetic people. It is a supplement food/natural medicine to control diabetes. However for the Americans, they don’t like the taste. I always piped up to my boss and the patient to try bitter melon because it’s the same taste but they wouldn’t dream of trying the vegetable. Oh well, I just had an ampalaya dish (“pinakbet”) yesterday and it was so goood!

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