'Gas Head Goes West'

I'm currently biting on a fresh piece of gauze, wondering when the pain will kick in. Wondering if I'll just have soup for lunch. The dentist was concerned enough to instruct me, via his nurse, thrice, to (please) return to the clinic any time between 2:00 and 6:00 P.M later, should I experience any further complications from my second molar's extraction, from my right upper jaw.

I began suspecting that there was something amiss with that particular molar two weeks ago. Said suspecting triggered by how wrong it felt when I tongued it one fair day. A loose, jagged feeling.

Imagine me now, having my fears confirmed by the dentist, contemplating on his elaboration that the extraction might be done in a few stages because of how it was cracked; it was just an individual corner, whereas the other areas of that same molar remained intact. "But if you're lucky, all it would take is one yank."

He was a fair man; and suggested that I could either keep it like it was (as I was not experiencing any pain, just psychological discomfort each time my tongue ran over that specific part of my mouth), or pull it out. I bit the bullet and chose the latter.

He applied some sort of cream to numb the few injections which would make the extraction painless afterwards. It's not really that unpleasant; a needle going into the walls of your inner mouth: just close your eyes, clench your fists.

I was a bit nervous when he asked me to wait outside, fearing time would lessen the effects of the given injections. A girl perhaps twelve, was on the brink of tears (someone like me, with an overactive imagination), accompanied by her very verbal parents who were both trying very hard to comfort her. She couldn't sit still.

I went back in after an elderly lady's turn, sat myself in the chair and braced myself for the worst.

"Ok, I'm going to apply a lot of pressure. Stop me if it hurts. Alright?"

Now those words were enough to subject me to an altogether new and different numbness, in my brain. Nevertheless, I nodded.

The human body is an amazing thing, I found myself thinking as what he told me was being exactly done. It was pressure alright, but not an ounce of pain. I was amazed; fists still clenched; could see in my mind that tooth still stubbornly clinging to its home, roots breaking bit by bit.

And then, it was out.

( _")