my love-hate relationship with dentist

yes, we all have our fears and things that we are scared of - but nothing can beat my fear for dentist. I am terrified of cockroaches, but I do not cringe with fear when they are around. I do have a very sensitive sense of smell for these horrible little creatures though. Back to my dentist fear - it all began when I was a little school girl. Having studied in a local, government (or kebangsaan) school, we do get these annual privilege of dental check-up. Sounds good isn't it? Truth is, my first confrontation with the dentist was horrifying and those memories are still vivid in my mind.

The sound of the drills and sharp objects, metal cups, and the horrible reclining chair (that made me feel absolutely helpless when I'm lying there!) - all made me cringe with fear, and sometimes, sleepless nights. The fear was instilled and etched in me deeply like a buried treasure till today. From my first brutal confrontation with those "f*&K&^s" (a term I dearly called them) - I've never want to get close to one. And that yearly school dental check-up ? On few occasions, I forged my dad's signature to forbid them to check on mine. And of course, my dad was furious when he found out cos now he has to pay money to send me to private dentist ! (which are equally as bad and horrible as the school ones!!!)

I delayed the 6 months dental appointment to a year, 2 years and longer if I can tolerate it. But when you were much younger and in your teens, you tend to eat a lot of sugary stuff- hence those dental visits are simply unavoidable. My worse experience ever was when I was 17 year old. I had to take out my wisdom tooth as they were giving me so much problems and pain. So my best friend pushed me to one (whom she claimed was really gentle and good). I would surely not go to one if the pain wasn't so unbearable. So my best friend drove me to the dentist on this ordeal. She promised me it will be over before I knew it and the pain will soon be gone.

Facing my fear, I was crossing my fingers so hard that this experience is going to be different from the others, because I so badly need the tooth to come out. The dentist ( I'm always very cautious of dentist - the more they smile, the more I see a line of evil grin in them). I can almost see them laughing and drilling my cavities away while I'm drowning in fear ! So this particular dentist told me its going to be almost painless once they jab me. OK.

I closed my eyes, open my mouth (and I hate it when they asked me to open bigger - i will if I can! duh!) The first jab came stinging on my right gums - and I can so feel it. Then the second, then the third. Then the doctor tried to take out the tooth, but I was feeling everything that I gave him my infamous cock-eye. He said "Oh, I'm sorry , can you still feel that?" He then jabbed again, (mind you , this is the 4th jab and my neck was already wet with my tears and yes, saliva). He then told the nurse "Eh, we are not injecting the right roots (WTF!) and they had to inject another 4 (2 on my inner cheek and another two some-where near the gums). Seriously, at that point of time, I felt so vulnerable and I really felt like running out of there and never never ever come back! But I can't ... see, those 4 jabs was numbing my other parts of my mouth that I could literally feel a jello effect on my lips.

The 5th- 8th jab somehow did the trick, and now they are grinning ear to ear to take out my wisdom tooth. And the dentist was perspiring. He told the nurse to hold my shoulder now, and he stood up holding a plier looking tool on his right hand and charged towards my tooth. He was using so much energy that I could see his facial expression - twitching every now and then. And the nurse, trying her best to hold me down. I almost feel like he was trying to pull a nail (that was deeply hammered into a piece of wood) out. Then he took out something. I felt something came out. I thought the whole thing was finally over. Then he said, "Oh, it broke into half. Now we may need to cut up a bit. At the edges and sew it up later"

GAAAAHHHHHH !!!

I tried to mumble something but nothing was coming out - see by then, my mouth was filled with 8 jabs of anaesthetic - so you can imagine how numb I felt.

Anyways, the whole ordeal went for another 10-15 minutes, including the sewing up.

I was as sore as a _ _ _. My lips was sore and was so jello- I could feel it going side-ways.

The next few days, was totally insane. I was popping painkillers (non-stop) and changed a dozen zillion gauzes!

Well, the best part of all, the pain that was caused by the wisdom tooth disappeared after a week. The numbness went on for almost 24 hours. (okay, I exaggerated a bit, but definitely more than 12 hours)

So, I do have a love hate relationship with dentist. I hate them to the core for the pain and fear they implanted on me and I love them because they can take the pain away. Now that I'm in a much better position to take care of myself and afford a better and decent dentist, the fear is slowing going away - but it still creeps up to you like a boogeyman.

My advise to parents ? Always let your kid have a wonderful, first experience with the dentist. And once they lose their milk teeth, show them dental care and bring them to the dentist. And don't ever allow let those government dentist touch your kid's teeth. They will be scarred for life - well, at least I can speak for myself.

we are 2 soon !

Come this 18th June 2010, RedRibbon Days will be officially 2 year old. To celebrate this joyous occasion, I've something planned for everyone in RedRibbon Days. This 'plan' however will not be disclosed anytime soon. I'm however, eagerly waiting for the day to come.

I am thinking about what to say to my staff and business partners on the day. I'm thinking of a promotion. So many things going through my mind as I'm looking at my to-do's check list. 2 years ago, when RedRibbon Days was still in its infancy stage - there were so many uncertainties; so many setbacks; and so many negative influences in the office. But now things has changed. So much has changed in one year - we added two new staff to the team; and the focus was completely on the business and nothing else.

We have brought joy, happiness and wonderful memories to the lives of many - and we will continue to do so. We pledge to deliver the most amazing experiences to our customers and we will always deliver happiness and memorable gifts to your loved ones. Many has said to me that the process is going to be excruciating and slow - some even said it is not viable to do this business in Malaysia. But whenever we get a very positive feedback from our customers, it always push me to strive even harder and make this business work - and for Malaysians to embrace the concept of experiential gifting.

Theing recently blogged about one of the event we organised and planned for a customer ; and her entry ascertained my love, passion and confidence for RedRibbon Days further. She said in her entry that RedRibbon Days is not just another gifting company, but we deal with "events of the heart". I am now more convinced that RedRibbon Days will continue to bring pleasure, happiness - and most importantly - a gift of memory to many for many years to come.