How long does this take? Of five minutes that turned out to be three hours

How long does this take?  Of five minutes that turned out to be three hours

I had now sat on that chair for exactly one-and-a-half hours.  My mouth had remined open for most of that time.  I was tired by all definitions.  The seat was comfortable alright, but the open mount situation was not.  My mouth muscles were tired.

“Shield him up for the x-ray,” I heard the doc say.

When I say ‘heard’ it is true.  I had been having a face cloth covering throughout the duration.  I could not see much, just the darkness of the blue clothing covering the whole of my face, leaving just a circular slot on the clothing for the position of my mouth.  I was already getting used to the darkness of the cloth covering.  The first relief came about when I was being prepped for the x-ray.

I got the chance to look at the wall clock, hanging above the wide window to my left, after the veil was lifted.  I momentarily observed the traffic flowing along Ngong road.  The Green house building was just on the other side of the road.  It was now exactly one.  

The portable x-ray equipment was brought to my once lying position, as the seat was adjusted back to a seating position.  I had to hold the x-ray reader in my mouth for the process to be done.  I would soon be adorned with the leaded shield sheet for the process to commence.  My mouth stayed open.  My mouth continued being tired of being open for hours.

“Take him back and cover him,” the doc instructed his assistant.

The lady adjusted the seat, and I was once again flat on the seat.  My face was once again covered, leaving only an opening for my mouth.  Some little panic was already setting in as to whether everything was OK.  That x-ray break however gave me some semblance of comfort that I would be done soon.

Truth be told, I had surely convinced myself that this would be a five-minute process.  After all, how long does it take to fix a piece of titanium, hardly two-centimetre high, into one’s gum?  Shouldn’t it just be push in and it is done?  I was wrong….

“We are now halfway done,” the doc updated me when I was back flat.  I was still in the dark due to the face covering.

“That cannot be true!,” I thought of saying.  However, in my darkness and a tired open mouth full of all manner of paraphernalia, I could hardly talk.

I would be lying if I said that there was any pain in this whole process.  None.  The local anesthesia had taken effect about five minutes after administration.  The whole half of my right lower jaw and tongue were numb.  I could only feel the motions of things but not the sensation of pain.  I was just tired and now worried that maybe something was wrong with the whole process.  I was expecting a five minute thing.  I was now in ninety-minutes and just halfway through.

I persevered and survived another three x-ray breaks.  I managed to see the number of blood-stained cotton balls lying on the adjacent table during one of those breaks.  They were bloody!  They were scary!  Could all that have come from my mouth?

That Wednesday had started well.  I already knew that this procedure was happening.  My expectations were however far from reality from the get-go.  I had an eleven o’clock appointment, but I was not called into the medical room until eleven-thirty.  That should have rung the first bell that it was not business as usual.  I have always first taken a seat next to the small desk used by the doc for some preliminary discussions.  This time it was different.  Neither the seats nor the table were there.  The room had all been cleared and instead there were all manner of paraphernalia lying around to occupy such spaces.

“Things are thick!,” I said to myself, as I wondered how to even proceed.

I was immediately ushered onto the dental seat and reclined flat.  The first explanations were that there shall be a full face covering on this day.  This was for purposes of complete sterilization of the mouth area.  This was a first one.  I have always dealt with the dentist ‘face to face’.  This time it would be different.  Other than that, I was told that the process would be as previously explained.  That explanation had been about one month prior.  It was simple enough.  As simple as five minutes in my view.

It was at 2.30pm that I was finally brought back to a sitting position and the face covering removed.  I have never imaged that a small gap of a missing molar on a lower jaw, hardly a centimetre space, could take that much time to deal with.  This same gap was costing me about 0.2M.  And it is a big deal when your bill in charged in millions.  All this was to paid out of pocket as the insurance company had indicated that such a necessary treatment as an exclusion.  

I had even debated on the wisdom of this decision, since the alternative option was to extract the upper molar to equalize this lower gap and be done with.  Such an extraction would be covered by insurance, hence a free issue.  However, it was not too late.  The bill was now payable, the titanium crown holder was now buried in the gum, and the next stage of fitting a top crown on the holding root was to follow after two months.

I almost collapsed with the anticipated pain when I got a prescription of the four painkillers, each to be taken over a period of five days.  I knew that my next five days would be hell on earth!  I had already been warned that cold drinks were out of question for a week, nor were hard foods and any much use of the right jaw in that period.  

The first night on that Wednesday was the most apprehensive.  I took the tablets by nine and went to bed immediately after.  That was four hours earlier that I would normally hit the sack.  I wanted to be immersed in deep sleep by the time the pain hit.  The pain would probably be swallowed by the dreams.  The numbness had already died down by this time, though the pain had not yet started.  I did not take any food on this day, just a glass of warm water.

I was surprised to wake up on Thursday without even a painful disturbance in the night.  Today is a Friday, the second day after my dental issue and I am yet to feel the pain.  I am even wondering whether that dentist did implant anything on my jaw.  I however cannot explain those stitches whose strings I can feel with my tongue on that gap.  Maybe I shall ask the implantologist.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, October 15, 2021