EXTRACTION

I had a wisdom tooth extracted this morning. It was growing at a strange angle and causing a problem with the molar in front of it.

I'm terrified of the dentist, natural fear with the huge addition of a dreadful double extraction as a teenager. The reason I still have crooked teeth is because the orthodontic treatment would have required several more extractions and that cosmetic reasons alone weren't worth the agony. I'm lucky to have found an excellent dentist recently - he's very kind and patient and understands just how frightened I am.

I've been dreading this morning ever since he told me a fortnight ago that the extraction had now become necessary. Terrified, shaking in the chair, terrified. Unfortunately in my state of terror I got the appointment time wrong and arrived 30 minutes early, that seemed to prolonged the agony of expectation but actually served to settle me slightly. The injections and extraction weren't as bad as I'd anticipated - as I'd tried to tell myself in advance, but unfortunately the tooth in front broke when the wisdom tooth was pulled, so now I have another appointment before Christmas for a temporary filling and will then have to have a further appointment next year to permanently fix the problem. Being the worry-wort that I am these are likely to play on my mind, meanwhile I'm topping up on the pain killers and waiting for tomorrow, by then I hope to have stopped shaking.

PS Comment away but please don't ring, I'm trying to sleep through it and I'm a bit of a wreck at the moment!