DENTAL SURGERY

I swiftly fumbled for my sleek smart phone deep into my pocket and called an Uber cab, which arrived within five minutes. My wisdom tooth was in bad condition and all I felt was an excruciating pain, much worse than a first lover’s heart break.

During the ride, the grey haired driver kept stealing some quick empathetic glances on me. Within no time, I arrived at The University of Nairobi, Dental Plaza. I paid the driver and walked to the reception on trembling legs as I writhed in unstoppable pain. The receptionist cordially welcomed me and I briefly explained my purpose of the visit.

No sooner had I sat on the out-patients’ waiting bay than a stunningly beautiful lady approached me. She had worn a white glaring lab coat pinned with a shiny golden name tag, artistically written DR. LILIAN MUSYOKA (ORAL / MAXILLOFACIAL SURGEON). She smiled to me exposing her perfectly arranged milk-white teeth and greeted me; which I responded hastily as I braved the deep seated pain.

She led me to the examination room, where she instructed me to lie on a special stretcher –like seat which was mechanically connected to an extremely bright yellow light at the top. Dr. Musyoka had worn aqua – blue nose muffs and pearl white gloves. She adjusted the special “seat” and its overhead light to her desire. She ordered me to open my mouth wide and the yellow light was directed to my face, aching my eyes but rather tilted at an angle of depression to send most the light rays into my mouth away from my almond –shaped eyes. Her exotic eyes which were covered with crystal-clear goggles were all focused deep into my mouth as her entangled mind seemed to be conducting a deep scientific analysis. She whispered “Okay!!! close your mouth.” She explained to me that my wisdom tooth was impacted and had to be removed through an open surgery (Surgical Disimpaction).

I proceeded to the Dental Radiography Department where I paid for the OPG and BWM radiological photos; which were done using high-powered sophisticated machines and this momentarily reminded me of The Black Panther, where the land of Wakanda became technologically advanced after being stricken by vibranium. It was already at 12:30 P.M and my pain was getting worse, which was accompanied by a pounding headache; probably due to exposure to radiations. I went to a nearby chemist and bought a pair of Panadol tabs, which I took with warm water offered to me by a motherly chemist who seemed so compassionate.

On my way back to the dental clinic, I came across a posh organic juice parlour; which was professionally splashed with assorted paints, probably by Pablo Picasso. I bought a 500ml well-blended mango squash; garnished with sweet aromatic herbs, which I greedily sipped uncontrollably as I walked briskly to the clinic. In no time, I was quietly standing at the patient’s waiting bay, fingers crossed, waiting for the surgeon’s call into the surgery room. “John …!!!,” I rushed into the surgery room as a wave of panic swerved my tender body and soul.

I was ordered to lie on the “special” seat by a stern- looking lady. The lady had worn an oversize lab coat pinned with a shiny grey name tag, boldly written DR. WANZA … I couldn’t even peep at her tag anymore, probably she would have slapped me so hard before the surgery, thinking that I was being cocky on her cleavage; plumped up by her God given ‘Twin Hills’. Dr. Wanza swiftly adjusted the “stretcher” seat and its light to the surgically desired standard; her prowessness would make one think she was a Biomedical Engineer holding Intellectual Property Rights to the “unique” seat. She walked out and I deeply huffed and puffed breathlessly as my heart and soul shouted, “Don’t come back!!!”

“Ghrrrrrrhhhh…!!!,” screeching of metallic wheels filled the room, swelling and reverberating off the walls. Dr. Musyoka diligently pushed a trolley filled with surgical equipment; which were carefully wrapped to prevent any form of contamination. In a blink of an eye, Dr. Musyoka and her colleague Dr. Wanza were dressed in properly sterilized surgical attire; ready to offer me as a sacrifice to the spirits of the long dead ancient medical gurus. My head was covered using a sterilized clothing which was clipped to another clothing that covered my neck and chest; leaving my nose and mouth open. I could not see what was happening; I closed my eyes as if I was waiting for a magical romantic kiss.

“Hey!!! Open your mouth…”, a dump soft clothing dipped in a chemical with a strong smell that resembled iodine solution, was thoroughly rubbed into my mouth and its exteriors. Before the thought of closing my mouth struck me, a needle was slowly inserted into the flesh surrounding the impacted tooth. A little chilly liquid was released into the flesh and the needle was withdrawn as a sharp pain shot down my spine. I could not swallow my saliva anymore, my mouth was like a poisoned well and any saliva coming from my glands became bitter. The pool of saliva in my mouth was sucked up using an electronic suction tube. My cheek and part of the lips near the cheek became tightened, much more than a catapult stretched by a hungry hunter.

My mouth was widely opened as fingers firmly held sharp cutting materials that deeply cut all the intermediate flesh near the impacted tooth. I did not feel any pain, though my cheek felt like an inflated balloon. The suction tube could not stop even for a second; It could have probably swallowed all my saliva, leaving my mouth dry. All the cut flesh was displaced from their site using a metallic flat tipped surgical tool. A machine that felt like a driller, was operated on the flesh free areas that probably consisted part of my oral bone. The “drilling machine” splashed jets of water as it drilled dipper and dipper.

The drilling stopped and a pliers-like surgical tool held the crown of my impacted tooth, shook it carefully and slowly in a circular motion; until it became weak and it was expertly pulled up. The operated site was washed using normal saline solution and the flesh was returned to their site and stitched together. A soft clothing was put in my mouth (at the stitched site), which I was instructed to discard in a bin after 30 minutes. My rather tightened cheek began loosening as pain set in, which made swallowing of my own saliva a real hustle. I could not even open my mouth; my sweet loving girlfriend would have ditched me for a kiss less season that had come by fate.

I was prescribed Diclofenac, Flagyl and Amoxicillin tablets; which I had to take in a period of (5/7). In my Medical Microbiology career, which is highly coveted in pharmaceutical industries (e.g. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Limited) and drug research centers (e.g. Institute of Primates Research), I could not agree with the prescriptions given under whatever cost. I only bought Diclofenac tabs (5/7), which would help scrap off any pain and swelling that would have occurred. Flagyl and Amoxicillin tabs are considered as prophylactic antibiotic prescriptions. Every medic should know this: Antibiotics should only be prescribed when the patient is diagnosed with a bacterial infection, supported by an antimicrobial susceptibility test; any other prescription apart from that, would result to antimicrobial resistance.

Dear Medics, the samples that we receive at Kenya Medical Research Institute (CDC), which come from different county hospitals, majorly consist of strains that are resistant to almost all antibiotics. This is giving Medical Microbiologists at KEMRI a hard time to scrap off these strains which follow this trend: Drug resistance, Multi-drug resistance (MDR), Extensive drug resistance and finally Pan drug resistance (which oftenly lead to cancer cases). I made sure that I sterilized my mouth in the morning and evening after brushing, by using Betadine mouthwash in order to keep the wound clean. Also I made sure I drank properly sterilized water and after every mid-day meal / drink, I would gargle using the sterile water to remove any food deposits. My main trick here was to facilitate the asepsis of my mouth.

See you all next time, thanks for reading.