I used to believe that very few people who have ever suffered from a horrible toothache could deliberately choose when to undergo the experience. I also used to believe very few people who have ever suffered from a toothache could endure the continuous excruciating pain without resorting to a doctor.

But my latest experience of seeking emergency dental treatment has given me a totally different perspective.

Several days ago, I developed an incredibly painful toothache at midnight. It made me extremely restless and sleepless. At first, I tried to change my focus to watching a midnight TV series until the pain subsided. However, the continuing toothache was so distracting it prevented me from giving my attention to the TV. In fact, it quickly dominated me so much that no room was left to attend to anything else. After struggling for two hours in bed, I got up and decided to seek help from the hospital.

From then on, I was on a long, hopeless journey of searching for emergency dental treatment in Shanghai.

I got in a taxi and told the driver to go to the nearest hospital. It only took us 10 minutes to get to the hospital. I rushed to the reception full of hope of getting a cure as quickly as possible. To my astonishment, the receptionist told me that there was no emergency service for toothache in that hospital. Tortured by the excruciating pain, I begged her to find a doctor to ease the pain for me at any rate. But the response was no. Then I asked her where I could get emergency dental treatment in Shanghai. And she did not have a clue.

"Perhaps it is only a problem with that hospital or receptionist", I thought. So, I took another taxi to try a second hospital. Unfortunately, the result was the same.

My pain was worsening. The wild and stabbing pain from the tooth at the back of my mouth exploded to consume my whole head. I had no choice but to continue my journey in search of a hospital that could help me escape the pain. I tried a third one. Once again, I got the same result - no emergency dental treatment.

I was too weak to complain. I had already travelled for more than one hour. It was not romantic, nor funny.

Having lost all confidence in the medical treatment system in Shanghai, the taxi driver suggested that I go to a 24 hours drugstore to get pain-killers to get me through the night. Frightened by the side effects of pain-killers, I decided to try one last hospital - the fifth so far.

Thank God, this hospital did offer emergency dental treatment. I was extremely grateful when the doctor provided pain relief for me.

The pain subsided to almost nothing. It was my fault for not paying enough attention to my teeth. As a result, I have started to gather toothache cure/relief health tips to avoid such terrible dental emergencies in the future. Nevertheless, emergencies do arise unexpectedly. None of those tips are by any means a reason for anyone who is in pain not visiting a dentist as soon as possible.

Thus, I am just wondering whether other people in Shanghai who might suffer from the same problem would be as lucky as I was.

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