Words of Wisdom

Just before I finished my first contract in China, I noticed that the gum at the back of my mouth on one side (behind my teeth) had turned a sort of white colour. I wasn't sure what it was, and it didn't cause me any discomfort so with only two weeks left before I was due to fly I home. I decided to ignore it. But about two days before my flight, my gums all started to bleed, not constantly but every now and then. I spoke to my family and they organised an appointment with the dentist for my first day back in England.

I went to the dentist and he told me that I had a wisdom tooth coming through, he told me that the whiteness at the back of my mouth was due to an infection and that it had spread throughout my mouth causing the bleeding that I was experiencing. He prescribed me with some antibiotics to clear the infection and a week later, I had an X-ray. The tooth had not impacted, so removal was not necessary, he did however tell me how to take care of the tooth (brushing, mouth wash etc). I didn't really think anymore about it, and eventually returned to China.

In early April 2013, almost a year after having my first wisdom tooth come through, I started experiencing pain, though on this occasion it was actually from the other side of my mouth. At first I wondered if perhaps a piece of food had become lodged in between two of my teeth, so I flossed though unfortunately it provided no relief. A couple of days later I was looking in the mirror and noticed the gums and inside of my mouth had swollen slightly, I showed my housemate and he confirmed my fear, there was a tooth pushing through.

I was nervous, what would a dentist in China be like? I remembered my Dad telling me that it wasn't too long ago in England, that wisdom teeth were pulled without anesthetic! What if this was the case in China?

Luckily, one of the teachers at my school had a girlfriend and she'd recently started a job working on the reception of a private dentist. He told me that it was very 'westernised' and modern. So he arranged me an appointment.

I found my way to the dentist and was delighted to find it was nicer than any I had visited in England! His girlfriend spoke English and gave me a cup of tea (Chinese tea, no milk and sugar here!) whilst I waited. Then the Dental Nurse came to introduce herself, she too spoke very good English, she informed me that I would need to have an X-ray before going in to see the Dentist.

I followed her down a long corridor into a windowless room at the far end, I was equipped with a lead apron that covered the front of my body from knees right up to my neck. I had to bite down on an instrument, I guess I would describe it as a small square plate about 3 inches by 3 inches. Then I put my head into a machine which then took an X-ray of my teeth.

Next, we went through to the Dentist, she too spoke English albeit not to the level of the Dental Nurse. She showed me the X-ray, and explained that the wisdom tooth was pushing into the back of the tooth in front. I realised that it was impacted, and knew without her saying anything it would need to be removed. I then sat back in the chair as she took a look and removed some 'food particles' from around the tooth. I was prescribed with a week's worth of antibiotics and told I'd have to return the following week for an extraction.

I went back to the reception and looked at the times available on the calendar, I knew that the following Wednesday would be best as I would finish work at 2.50pm and could be here for 3.30pm, however they told me I would need to come during a morning, just in case the bleeding didn't stop, they would need enough time to fix the problem... It was at this point I started to realise how painful this could potentially get.

They suggested the following Tuesday morning (16th April), I explained that I had four hours worth of classes from 1.10pm, however they assured me that if they extracted it before 11am then two hours would be more than enough recovery time before going into work, so I agreed to the time and date they'd suggested. However, everyone I knew told me I would be mad to have it removed and then go into work, as I would be in too much pain to teach. I was urged to inform my boss so I could have the afternoon off to recover. But, if I did that I would not be entited to my £200 bonus, which you only qualify for if you have not taken any time off sick! So I made the decision, to go through with the extraction and then go into work.

So before I knew it, I was sat in the chair being injected with local anesthetic. They waited a minute before making a start, "OUCH!" I screamed, "I can feel that!". She seemed confused, and gave it another minute before her second attempt, "AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! I can still feel it!" They pumped my gums full of more anesthetic and on the third attempt I felt nothing, though it was a little uncomfortable.

Obviously I couldn't see what was going on but I saw sharp implements going into my mouth, a chisel and hammer, and something that looked very like pliers! It took so long (an hour and 20 minutes) that she needed a rest and a male Dentist came to have a go for five minutes before she resumed her assault on my mouth! I also had to go to have another X-ray to ensure that they had gotten all the pieces out, yes I said pieces. The tooth was so stubborn they had to break it into four pieces to get it out. They kindly showed me the tooth, once removed and offered to bag it up for me to take home before stitching me up!

They handed me a prescription for two kinds of anti-biotic and a mouthwash (similar to Corsodyl) and gave me a whole painkiller to help me through the afternoon. The painkiller situation in China is actually quite baffling in itself, they don't seem happy to hand them out. In fact, you cannot buy aspirin/paracetamol or an equivalent in your local Watson's Pharmacy (similar to Boots), I assume you can get them from actual chemists but I can't swear to that. In total, the Dentist charged me £65 and the prescriptions cost me about £12, I am not sure how £77 compares to England but I was happy enough to pay it.

My wisdom tooth (4 pieces), how can something so small hurt so much?

So there I was on the subway heading to the school for four hours of teaching, armed with my one painkiller tablet, but I didn't manage to last the 25 minute journey, I had to take the tablet as my mouth was feeling a little sore...

The night before I had planned the classes meticulously to ensure minimal speaking from me, and my Teaching Assistant was aware of the situation so helped as much as she could. I did manage to get through the classes, although at times I did have sit down and couldn't jump around being as silly as usual. The kids must have realised I didn't feel well as they weren't as rowdy as usual which helped me survive, though I would seriously consider whether going into work after having a tooth extracted is a good idea in future...