Fear!

I've found the one thing I am truly truly terrified of today. Oh God, thinking about it makes me pinch my toes together and grit my teeth together...

The high pitch whir, the light smell of disinfectant in the air, the white lab coats, the grotesque pictures mounted on the walls and that almost silent groan or noise you hear once in a while that indicates sudden pain. None of these actually help you get comfortable while you wait your turn. Flipping through the pages of 'Money Today', I found myself only glancing at the many words in the magazine. My mind was actually imagining the horrible things that could and probably would happen to me when that evil door opens and my name is called.

And then it happens, "Tan Seng Leong" I hear. My heart stops beating for a second as I compose myself, smile and calmly walk into the room. A weird looking chair awaits me in the center of the room. I walk towards it looking around the room, there are so many scary looking tools around the room. At one corner, there are two nurses in white wearing face masks (The kind you would wear during a haze), looking at me with their unblinking eyes. I lie down on the chair and try to get comfortable. Suddenly I'm blinded by a bright light from above me, it's about to begin.

I hear a voice asking me what I need done and I'm thinking "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Maybe I don't need to do this." but I start explaining my problems anyway. I hear the clang of metal tools knocking against each other and the sound of a machine powering up nearby. The chair starts to move, I start to sink down. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God...

As my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I see a name tag, Dr. Shelly Lee. I think to myself, this can't be that bad, right? I start to relax as a wide variety of tools are put into my wide-open mouth. After a while, I can actually breathe normally again and I think my heartbeat finally returns to normal but this wonderful feeling of relief doesn't last. She asks me a few questions, telling me I need this and that. I nod fearfully in agreement, thinking I might as well get this over with. I am told that she will let me listen to the sound of this next device just so I get used to it and then I hear it, the dreaded high pitch whir! I can feel the muscles in my body tightening, like a spring being compressed tightly, ready to explode...

Fine, I'm a coward and maybe it wasn't all that dramatic but I remember it that way. Come on, how many of you can actually say that you are NOT afraid of the dentist. I am honestly terrified of going to the dentist okay? I have been since I was a kid. I remember my mother had to literally drag me into the car to bring my to the dentist when I was younger.

Anyway, I ended up getting a local anesthetic for the upper part of my mouth (That puffed up like a balloon and lasted a full two hours) where I got three, that's right, three fillings. I honestly don't know how I ended up with so many decaying teeth. I, being so damn scared of the dentist, take every precaution to make sure I take care of my teeth properly, brushing at least two times a day and actually flossing, sometimes anyway...

Also, I got scaling done for the first time in my life and found that, it's not pleasant. For those of you who do not know what scaling is, it's a procedure to remove tar-tar from between your teeth and gums and should be done at least once a year. That's right, roughly counting, I had nine years of tar-tar building up so it wasn't exactly an easy procedure...

Actually, at the end of it, I realized one thing, the dentist is not as scary as I thought. Or maybe it's just my  relief talking. Well, I won't know that until my next visit to the dentist...

I'm feeling quite happy that I've settled almost all the affairs that I needed to settle here in KK before I go back to Kuching. I can actually go back to Kuching tomorrow if I wanted to...

Now 'A Gamer with Cleaner Teeth', FT out...