Friday, November 20, 2009

Getting Wiser

According to the unbearable pain in my teeth and gums in the upper left quadrant of my mouth, I'm in my wise years. I have a wisdom tooth coming in; my first out of three. I was reading on the Internet about wisdom teeth and how you know if you have one starting to come in and I learned something. Apparently they call them wisdom teeth because people get them in their wise years (in this case 18 to 25 years of age).

I am going to an oral surgeon appointment on Monday. They are going to attempt a panoramic x-ray on me so they can view the wisdom teeth. Wouldn't you know my regular dentist office is not accessible. It's very small and they are not able to do a panoramic because with my wheelchair and the length of it I can't get close enough to the machine. I am hoping that the oral surgeon's office will be a little more accessible and able to do one because that's really the only way they can tell if they have to surgically remove my wisdom teeth. Personally I would just say go ahead and slice my gums open and pull those suckers out because it hurts like a word I won't say which obviously means that it's not growing in right. Maybe I should've gone to dental school. I think this is what they mean about being wise. It really does help to rant out loud. Thanks for reading my complaints; I feel much better now.

Jenni

3 comments:

Matthew Smith said...

LOL, the "wise years" being 18 to 25! You could have fooled me. Although perhaps they mean that's when they begin and perhaps there were fewer old people around.

I remember the day my mother had her wisdom teeth pulled. That was back in the 1980s and she must have been in her late 20s or early 30s. I remember her puking blood into a bowl and obviously feeling very ill. I don't remember her face puffing up, though, which is what a lot of people report when they have their wisdom teeth pulled. Thankfully I've never had to have mine done.

Anonymous said...

I had all my teeth done at the same time, I think at least two of which were impacted. My face was swollen for a week, I gargled with salt water constantly and the pain was awful.

Can you gargle salt water? I guess it's kind of involved with all the side to side swishing. Do you have a very limited range of motion with turning your head?

By the way, that is just *my* experience; I don't mean to scare you. I know plenty of people that have had the same procedure done and gone back to work the same day, with minimal swelling/pain.

Cheryl said...

I had all 4 out at once and it really wasn't bad. I mean, I had to be somewhat careful about what I ate, but I only took pain meds for 1 or 2 days.