The Extraction

We went for the extraction on the much 'anticipated' day with trepidation.

I think I must have been more nervous and traumatised than Coco was before the pull-out day.

In the days running up to the extraction day, I kept debating with myself if there was a need to pull out good teeth. I surfed the net to look up a braces forum and read the threads on whether extraction was necessary. Most regretted not extracting their teeth and those who extracted did not miss their 'good teeth' as after braces were done, the rest of the teeth fell nicely in line with the jaw, or the gum.

But I felt really bad to get Coco to pull out her teeth when I myself am freaked out by tooth extraction anytime. Blame it on the traumatising wisdom tooth extraction 7 or 8 years ago!

Before the extraction, Dr Shawn Goh asked me if I had any concern or questions.

I told him frankly that I had sought two other opinions and the third orthodontist had mentioned that the dentist should be pulling out the fifth teeth on both sides instead of the fourth teeth as intended by Dr Cheng, although pulling the fourth teeth would be fine as well.

Dr Goh was very nice about it. He did an examination on Coco's teeth and rationalised Dr Cheng's decision on the original planned extraction.

So we went ahead.

Dr Goh injected anaesthesia twice on each of the sides before proceeding to extract the first tooth.

I didn't ask but Coco was probably shocked by the pain of the anaesthesia needle. She made 'uh uh ...' sound and lifted her legs as she was injected. I felt so bad that she had to go through the trauma.

She had to suffer the fifth needle when she complained of pain as Dr Goh was about to extract the second tooth.

After the extraction, she said she kept telling herself that it was the last needle after each injection but each time she was shocked that the next injection was waiting for her. Poor girl!

But her wounds healed quite fast.

She stopped bleeding within a day and she only complained of a bit of pain in the first two hours. After that, it was just soreness for about two or three days. She had her favourite scallop porridge for those few days though, so no complaints!


Where to go:
Dr Shawn Goh
The Oral Maxillofacial Practice
38 Irrawaddy Road
#11-43
Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre
Tel: 67371649
Charges for extraction: $60 per tooth
Medication (painkillers, gastric pills, mouth-wash and dental stuffing): $36.75