I went for my first dental check up in almost a decade yesterday. I am very particular about selecting the right dentist and very concern about seeing a dentist I am unfamiliar with, due to a bad childhood experience with trainee dentist of my former school.
Here's my childhood bad experience leading to my phobia. I was 7 years old and I was required to go for my dental check up. Being afraid of being punished for not going for the dental check up, I had no choice but to go for the check up. A female Malay trainee dentist was stationed at my former school in a room partitioned from the clerical office. The horror started when the trainee told me that my tooth had to be extracted. In the process of extracting the tooth, I could be heard screaming and yelling out of pain and fear. Yeah, it was in fact very painful. Due to the lousy skill and lack of strength to pull my tooth, I was sent to the general hospital after the tooth broke half way. Thank goodness, the male Malay dentist of the general hospital was skillful and I didn't suffer from any pain. Unfortunately, the first encounter had permanently cultivated the fear in me.
The only dentist I dared to see was the uncle of my friend but I only saw him once in the 70s. The fear of dentist stopped me from going for dental check up until 1989 when I got a few teeth extracted and went through some fillings. I went for yearly dental check up at the same dental clinic for a number of years. I eventually stopped going several years before my late parents moved away to another state. I had thought of going back to my hometown just for dental check up for the last few years but the long journey prevented me from doing so.
I had problem looking for "Klinik Paul" introduced to me by my wife. I saw the signboard but as I went up the stairs, I could not find the clinic. I only saw a company called "Livingwell". Thinking it's another direct sales company, I walked off and made a phone call to the clinic. In fact "Livingwell" was the new name of the clinic. As I entered, I saw a number of people chit-chatting like nobody's business. The receptionist smiled as I was a weirdo who could not find the clinic even it was right in front of me. I registered as the first timer visiting the clinic. Upon putting down the form, the Indian man in the chit-chat session suddenly said "Come on!" and teased the lady who was chit-chatting with him for having too much things to talk about. I was glad that he was a homourous dentist unlike the one I encountered when I was 7 years old. I explained to him my tooth problem with the fear that I had to get it extracted. He showed me the tooth for confirmation on the screen and he confirmed that he could do the filling. He also put some medication on the ulcer on my tongue that I informed him to prevent him from accidentally hitting that area. He was quite friendly and somehow my fear disappeared - he was equally as good as my friend's uncle. So far I am happy with the filling and the medication for the ulcer works like a miracle.
My confidence level of going for dental check up is back to normal again. I hope I don't have to look for a new dentist for many years to come. What a relief!!
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