Wisdom teeth go away, come back another day...

[xb95]

On second thought, it's probably best if you don't come back, woeful tooths. I will go broke if I have to pay to pull you out every week.

...

I went to the oral surgeon today and did a review of my tooths. The funny thing is that I went in telling him I wanted the two on my left side removed, and then he launched into his spiel to try to convince me to have them removed.

Dr: "There is a lot of tissue swelling. This causes it to be really hard to clean, letting bacteria and food to get trapped back there, which can lead to gum and bone disease."
Me: "Yup."
Dr: "It's easier to get them removed when you're younger...if you wait, it becomes harder and harder for the body to get through the removal and recovery."
Me: "Yes...I am here to get them removed. You don't have to convince me."
Dr: "Oh, uh..."

I totally threw him for a loop; it was awesome! Anyway, it's scheduled for the 22nd and they're going to put me under for it so I am not really worried. I will have to find someone to watch Oliver though so Ari can drive me there and accompany me.

The only annoying thing is the cost. My medical bills are pretty exciting ... it seems like it's $500 every few weeks for this or that. Oh well.

Comments

[nd_mom]

Wisdom teeth are not so very wise;) I had mine out when I was in my early twenties. Be sure to follow post surgery instructions, dry sockets are no fun! Will be thinking of you on the 22nd.

[nd_mom]

Door bell:)

[ironangel]

I had mine pulled when I was in my 20s as well. They were in, but like you I had problems with keeping them clean since there wasn't really enough room back there. Since my procedure wasn't surgical, I just went to work afterwards with a slightly swollen face :)

[janinedog]

Good luck! I'm still crossing my fingers that I can keep all of my wisdom teeth indefinitely.

[xb95]

Well, it's a crappy situation. My wisdom teeth look fine, there's no REAL reason to pull them out. But since I've been having the left-side jaw pain, which sometimes happens with ankylosing spondylitis, my rheumatologist says that it's easier to get the wisdom teeth out and see if that's then problem than to find a maxillofacial surgeon to do things to the jaw joint.

So, we pull the tooths out and see what happens.

[synecdochic]

Ah, yes, the "what the hell, let's try this!" method of doctoring. (In my experience, it works about 75% of the time. *g*)

[synecdochic]

I had mine out in 1995 (the less said about which the better, but it was why I didn't go back to the dentist for anything more than absolute emergencies for like 15 years) on one side and 2007 (which was actually a quite pleasant experience, mostly because I WAS UNCONSCIOUS, and I still wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been about to lose my dental insurance by quitting LJ) on the other. The only thing that sucked about the second extraction was that when you're unconscious, the oral surgeon is more willing to grab your face and move it around -- you should've seen the bruising I had on the other side! (And my jaw partially dislocated, but that's barly worth mentioning these days.)

Icepacks are totally your friend. *g*

(Also, depending on your out-of-pocket medical bills -- including mileage to/from appointments, which is something that very few people know about -- it may wind up being more advantageous for you to itemize your deductions on your taxes this year, instead of taking the standard deduction, depending on your other possible deductions. It might not work out better for you, since your AGI is so high, but keep track of everything anyway.)