It’s actually hardly visible when I smile at you straight on. However, if you’re facing my left hand side profile and I open my mouth, then it hits you pretty hard, not to mention when I open up wide to give a damn good laugh! It is going to take some getting used to visually, but this missing tooth is definitely not the most attractive of things ever done to me.

The extraction actually went pretty smoothly. Having completed my five days of antibiotics (damn did those make my asshole burn and make me fear going to the toilet, possibly the very first time that the white porcelain throne actually scared me so! Sorry, TMI I guess.), I made my way through to dentist Aletia Kruger’s premises out here in Strand, where I was first diverted to the oral hygienist Adri who spent the next half and hour or so cleaning my teeth and getting rid of years worth of plaque in the process. As it turned out, she identified that I definitely had the first stages of gum disease, so it was just as well I saw her, because all the cleaning should sort that out.

With my teeth now feeling strangely polished and giving off strange nook and cranny sensations to my tongue, I strolled down the corridor to Dr. Aletia, where she sat me down, had a look, numbed the upper gum and then injected me from what must be the largest, meanest looking metallic injection needle that I have ever seen!

Unfortunately the problem abscess had not drained completely as she had hoped that it might, but it had gone down enough to make the extraction feasible. With my mouth now properly dead, she grabbed her specialized tongs and worked the broken tooth out, with a lot less effort than I thought it would take.

I was given instructions and some gauze to bite down on for the next hour, paid my bill and then left, one tooth lighter.

It was an uncomfortable hour (which I timed to make sure I didn’t a) cheat and b) didn’t keep that gauze in for a minute longer that I had to!), but eventually I could open my mouth again and inspect the damage. Like I said, it is going to take a while to get accustomed to this new look! :)

Funny thing is though, I’m not sure everything has gone as it was meant to. I was told to expect a lot of pain from the wound in the evening once the anesthetic wore off, so much so that right up front, the Dr. had written out a prescription for pain meds with the antibiotics. However, as of this morning, still nothing whatsoever, which worries me just a little bit. Maybe the abscess is blocking the nerves are something, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t meant to be this easy.

Final point, it is pretty off-putting to Chantelle (who I flash it to constantly) while Jessica things it’s pretty funny. Or that maybe that’s just gas.