As I said, I was having a severe headache. I suspected my tooth. I was right.

Some background. I had this one particular premolar with a cavity so big and so bad that dentists always said, "You mean you had this all along? And it's never painful?"

It never was, ever since I discovered the then-already-bad cavity several years ago. Until last week. Well, actually, even then it wasn't really "painful" -- I was just having a very bad headache on and off. I think I kinda expected this, so this tooth immediately became my prime suspect.

This morning I couldn't stand the pain anymore, so I called in sick and went to NUH. After waiting for almost an hour -- you wouldn't believe how many people have odontalgia everyday -- I finally got to see the dentist. (You mean you had this all along? And it was never painful?)

Then she had my mouth X-rayed.

Then she sent me to a specialist one floor above for an extraction.

After another long wait -- you wouldn't believe how many people have odontalgia everyday and have to see specialists -- Doctor Rahul showed up. Nice fellow he is; he managed to pacify my fear. Phew!

This being the National University Hospital, I had my tooth extracted under the watchful eyes of two Dentistry students. And it took forever, I tell you! Actually, not longer than 10 minutes, but it felt forever, I tell you!

Apparently, that premolar's condition was so bad that the doc feared it would break, in which event he would've had to perform a minor surgery. So he had to work on it very carefully. Well, it does have an advantage, having two students watching your mouth with interests: the specialist kept explaining precisely what he was doing.

Sometimes too precisely. As I was lying there, I had to listen to what he would do if the gum didn't stop bleeding; or if the tooth did break; or if the anesthesia wore off prematurely. The last part was only in my imagination, of course, 10 minutes being a far cry from one or two pulls I experienced with my baby teeth.

It is in moments like this that I'm thankful we're in the 21st century.

BTW, when that stubborn tooth was finally extracted, I was so relieved that I didn't even think of taking its picture. But trust me on this: it was very ugly.

Now I have to think of what to do with my -- not one, not two, but -- three wisdom teeth, which have successfully un-aligned themselves over the years. Isn't life great?

Current music: Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi
Current mood: happy