I had been
suffering from tooth ache for some time and hence decided to visit my dentist.
She asked me to take a dental x-ray and I was shocked to see the condition of
my teeth. Dr. S advised me to extract all my teeth which of course shocked me. Professionally
I am a trainer and a communicator and I am expected to be communicating (orally
a lot of time) with stakeholders and professional acquaintances. So it hit me as
to how am I going to look toothless? Will I be able to speak? How will I look? To
top it all I had a couple of important events (thank fully virtual events).
The whole
process took around a month. I remember that I had speak to the dentist, Dr. S
to understand the process. She painstakingly explained to me the entire
procedure and took into consideration my professional work too. Thank you for
that Dr. S.
So the 1st
step was to see how many teeth will be removed at a time and how do we phase it
out. Dr. J who extracted my teeth was a gentle person. I used to shout in pain,
sometimes be dramatic (I think). The fun started when I had to be conscious
that I did not have any teeth. I remember that I had to blow away the cream
from my coffee and when I tried doing it, no air come out 😀. So
I had to use a spoon to remove the cream.
A lot of
time I used to put tooth paste on my brush and then realised that there were no
teeth to brush.
Then came
the next phase to take the impression (we had to wait to ensure that there were
no lesions or ulcers). Dr. M was a kind and patient person.
Impressions
were taken then fitting and some minor adjustments (what is called as filing). Thank you to all the doctors and Shoba.
I am now getting
used to the dentures. I can proudly say that I managed to participate and speak
(almost normally) in 2 key events in our organisation.
Moral of
the story: Don’t take things for granted, take care of yourself as much as
possible.
