Gaining Wisdom

Teeth, that is.

I’ve never claimed to be normal by any means. I’ve always felt like the odd duck in the group but its become more apparent as I’ve gotten older. Chronic illnesses aside, there are still parts of me that I don’t understand.

Take my teeth for example. I was a late bloomer. I didn’t loose my first tooth until the 3rd grade and even then it had to be pulled, which was a horrible experience by the way and instilled a hatred for the dentist’s office at a young age.

I was missing 4 permanent teeth that just never formed which led to the need for braces. Believe me, my mouth was a hot mess before my first round of braces (yup, I am a two-timer when it comes to braces).

At one point, we thought the missing teeth count was much higher. My 12 year molars didn’t come in until I was 16 and there wasn’t a sign to be found that I had any wisdom teeth which we figured was just as well considering I didn’t have space for them.

That was until last February. One lone wisdom tooth appeared on an x-ray though it was still pretty high up so my dentist didn’t think that it would descend. Five months, later I was at the oral surgeon’s office having that lone wisdom tooth removed.

Before the surgery, I asked the surgeon, “What are the chances of any of my other wisdom teeth showing up?” Since I only had one tooth, my insurance wasn’t going to pay to have me sedated and I sure as heck didn’t want to go through this multiple times. He quickly responded, “If its not showing up on an x-ray now, you don’t have any others.” I laughed and reminded him that a year ago no wisdom teeth were showing on x-rays. He assured me that this was my one and only so we scheduled the surgery.

Because of my fear and hatred of the dentist, I sure as heck wasn’t going to be wide awake for the surgery so I elected to pay out of pocket for the next step up which was not full sedated but they give you a Valium to take before coming to the office and the gas right before the surgery. Let me tell you that by the time I got to the office, I could have cared less what was going on! LOL!

The procedure itself was quick and painless. It was over in 15 minutes tops. I kept waiting to feel something but it never happened. Before I knew it, they were ushering me into the next room and Hubs was there to get me. I didn’t have any swelling and most of the pain was gone within 2 or 3 days. So I will say that my experience having my one and only wisdom tooth was pretty easy.

That was until my second wisdom tooth has decided to make an appearance at the ripe age of 29 never before showing up on an x-ray. Should be a fun trip to the dentist this month.

I guess some people gain their wisdom more slowly than others . . .

For your viewing pleasure, Bill Cosby’s “The Dentist”