“I suppose so.” Charlotte giggled, flicking her hair out from under her shoulders.
“How have things been? Had any trouble at all?” Rowan asked gently.
“Compared to how they were when I first came here, things have been brilliant. I’ve hardly had any trouble at all. Well, that was until the last month or so...” She trailed off.
“What’s been happening?” Rowan was adjusting the settings on one of his tools. I noticed him slide the intensity down to its minimal settings. That meant she had incredibly sensitive teeth. I’d have to remember that if I was required to use any of my gadgets later.
“The teeth on the right have just been aching like nobody’s business,” she replied meekly. “I’ve been taking painkillers every day, but the pain is actually starting to break through even that.”
“Right, let’s have a look and see what’s going on,” Rowan muttered.
Charlotte opened her mouth on cue and Rowan slipped the mirror in gently, pulling her cheek away. Without even glancing at me, he began to recite numbers and codes relating to her teeth. I typed as he spoke, astounded by the variety of different problems Charlotte had been having.
“Max, can you get me one of the large anaesthetic vials please?” Rowan glanced at me quickly. “I can see what’s happened, Charlotte. Remember before I last saw you, I mentioned the teeth might move and that if they did, we’d have to do something about that?”
Charlotte nodded, looking a little frightened. I handed Rowan the small tube of clear liquid and he held it up to the light. Flicking it to check there were no air bubbles, he opened the draw where he kept the syringe heads.
“We’re going to have to pull one of those teeth out today and I’m going to have to take the filling out of the tooth next to it and reform it. Without the other tooth keeping it in place, it would just crumble otherwise, and no one likes an exposed nerve.” He smiled kindly, ripping the paper and taking the needle out. “I’m going to give you a few injections in a few different places, alright? Just to make sure you’re totally dead before I pull the sucker out. It’s a big molar, so you’ll probably feel a strange, snapping sensation and that’s normal.”
Rowan continued to inform Charlotte of what he was going to do as he clicked the syringe into place. He placed it gently on the tray and turned to her.
“Is that alright, Charlotte?” he asked gently.
“Y-yes, if it’ll take the pain away,” she replied, her voice cracking a little. The fear in her eyes was obvious.
“It will.” Rowan reached around for the syringe and looked at me for assistance. I stood quickly and took my position by his side. “I’m not going to lie to you, Charlotte – this will probably hurt a fair bit, so I’m going to get Max to hold your head still for me. I don’t want you flinching away and causing any damage. Is that alright?”
Charlotte’s fear-filled eyes flickered to me briefly. I smiled sympathetically and she nodded quickly. I placed my hands gently on either side of her head. I didn’t grab her too tightly just yet, but I knew I was going to have to exert a reasonable amount of pressure just before Rowan put the needle in. We usually only did this sort of thing with small children, but I trusted Rowan’s judgement. After seeing him adjust his tools, I believed that it really would hurt her considerably.
“Right, open wide and try to relax for me,” Rowan said, gently pulling her cheek away from her teeth. Charlotte had her fists in tight balls, her knuckles white, and she was shaking a little. “I’ll try to be as quick as I can.”
Rowan glanced at me, signalling to get ready. I watched as he located the soft fleshy part of her cheek, right up by her gum. I knew this would be the least painful of the six times Rowan would have to stick the needle into separate parts of Charlotte’s mouth. Nevertheless, I pressed a little firmer on her head.
Charlotte hadn’t made a peep at the first injection, or the second and third Rowan had placed in her cheek. I saw her visibly tense up as he moved to the opposite side of her teeth, on the inside gum near the thinner flesh at the roof of her mouth.
“Try to relax,” he soothed, carefully inserting the needle into the thickest part of the gum. Charlotte flinched and cried out a little, only a small noise but I knew it must have hurt an awful lot. Thankfully, I had braced myself expecting that, and as such her head hadn’t moved an inch. The next flinch was even more violent, and I noticed a small tear slide from the corner of her eye down the side of her face.
Rowan quickly got the last of the injections done, squeezing the remainder of the liquid into Charlotte’s gum. He pulled away immediately, turning to dispose of the needle into the bright yellow sharps bin. I let her have free movement of her head again and reached across for a tissue. I handed it to her, and she smiled thankfully at me, wiping the tear away before Rowan noticed it.
“Right, that’s the painful bit done.” Rowan smiled. “The rest will feel strange, but at least it won’t hurt you.”
“Thank God,” Charlotte mumbled, rubbing at her cheek. I noticed she was lisping a little already.
“Do you want to sit in here whilst we wait for that to take effect, or would you rather sit out in the waiting room?” Rowan asked her, snapping his gloves off and getting to his feet.
“Can I stay in here? Is that alright?” Charlotte replied quietly, fiddling with the tissue I had given her.
“Of course, that’s fine.” Rowan nodded, pulling his mask down, “Don’t mind us, we’ll just be running around, getting our gear together.” He laughed and then turned to me. “I take it you know what I need for this?”
“Sure.” I nodded. It wasn’t often people had teeth simply pulled out these days – dentists tended to prefer to find every other alternative first. As such, the tools required were easy to remember as they were the only set that we didn’t use very often. Rowan and I busied ourselves preparing everything we needed. I picked out three or four pieces of cotton wool before noticing the look Rowan was giving me.
“Have you ever seen an adult tooth being pulled out?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Only in videos. In real life, I’ve only seen the milk teeth being taken out,” I replied, feeling a little awkward.
“There’s going to be a lot more blood than those few cotton wool pieces can soak up. You’d better leave the packet,” he said, then turned to Charlotte, “Not that you have to worry about that. It just looks like a lot.”
“That’s alright. I’ve seen so much of my own blood now; I’m honestly not bothered.” Charlotte laughed, her tongue sounded heavy, numbed by anaesthetic, as she struggled to form the words.
