The Denture Experience

 

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 1^st 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.