I’m celebrating the successful extraction of my wisdom teeth. I had been agonizing the potential loss of these teeth for well over a year.
My dentist said, “They need to come out.”
I sought a second opinion.
The oral surgeon said, “Well, as long as they’re not bothering you, I say leave them in. At YOUR age (Yes, he said that.) there’s more risk of something going wrong, actually. Yes, I say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” (laughing boisterously)
I didn’t know whether to hug him,
or slug him.
I went back to my dentist. He wasn’t pleased. He took out his BIG camera and started taking photos of my little mouth, showing me all the places my cheek wouldn’t allow the toothbrush to get back to that tooth to keep it clean.
I went home. I took out my toothbrush. Amazing. The toothbrush actually pushed that pesky little cheek right out of the way.
I decided NOT to get the tooth pulled.
And then, it broke. Yes, there it was: a little piece of that WISE and wonderful tooth in my hand. Oh well, at least I’d bought some time.
The good news? I didn’t have long to fret. One week later, Monday in fact, I was sitting in the oral surgeon’s chair enjoying a whiff of laughing gas (Yes, I’m a total wimp when it comes to needles and drills.) and out came not one but two wisdom teeth.
Do I feel any less wise? No.
Was it half as bad as I thought it would be? No.
Did I learn a little lesson here? Yes.
A few actually.
1. Don’t worry about things until they actually happen. Wasted energy.
2. Before you consider ANY medical procedure, post your quandary on Facebook. In less than five minutes you’ll have at least fifty two responses and/or suggestions, many of them better than the ones you receive from your medical practitioner.
3. Be sure you have a delicious chocolate smoothie waiting for you when you get home. The oral surgeon may advise you to pick up a milkshake at McDonald’s on your way home so that you have something in your stomach before you take your pain medication. Seriously. How can good advice sound so bad?
4. When the doctor tells you to keep ice on that face all day, believe him.
5. You needn’t tilt your head to the right when eating to keep the food from touching “the hole.” You can simply chew on the unaffected side of your mouth.
6. Don’t have all four wisdom teeth pulled at once. If you do that, you won’t have an unaffected side of your mouth in which to chew.
7. Do NOT use a straw. Never use a straw. (I learned this on Facebook.)
8. Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. This post is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Should you have any health care related questions please consult your physician. Or, seek the opinion of a ‘qualified’ health care provider.
What am I eating? The wisdom tooth diet. Which actually isn’t much different than my regular diet. Delicious (chocolate) green smoothies for breakfast. (minus the berries and their tiny little seeds)
LOTS of bananas. (I’m sure I was a monkey in another life.)
Cauliflower, mashed with a little sea salt and a yummy avocado. So much better than butter and you know how I feel about “green.”
Grandma’s frittata. Always Grandma’s frittata.
And later this week I’m eager to try Heidi Swanson’s Ginger Coconut Milk Soup over Kamut Pasta. I’m loving my kamut pasta.
Now doesn’t that sound delicious?
I should write a book. The Wisdom Tooth Diet.
Do you have a tooth story to share? Let’s talk teeth!
12 thoughts on “The Wisdom Tooth Diet”
Wonderful post, Sue Ann! You had me smiling from start to end.
Here’s wishing a speedy recovery, and many pleasures in the meantime,
Chris
Laughing…we’re just alike when it comes to dentists. I had all four of mine out when I was 23. I fainted during the IV, the anesthesia made me horribly sick, and there was no chocolate smoothie waiting for me. Your experience sounds way more pleasant, if there is any such thing as a pleasant dental experience. Hope you heal quickly.
Sue! Thanks for the giggles. Truly, I had all 4 of mine out at once! I wish I had had your experience to go by first, I’d definitely have included a chocolate milkshake in my recovery. I also totally appreciate that list – I think it would be a handy thing to have for any medical procedure.
Love what you’ve learned from this experience Sue Ann. Big smiles about the “ice on face all day”. I didn’t choose to believe it either. I really wish I’d listened. And oh how I wish I’d known it was an option to have only 2 taken out at a time.
Oh Sue Ann, what a wonderful post. I laughed and laughed. And given my crazy energy lately, I can’t thank you enough. I can literally HEAR you speaking all of this out loud. (One of many things I love about your writing!). I know this was a big decision and so glad to hear how it turned out and what you learned.
Clearly your surgeon needs some of your training if he’s advising his patients to go to McDonalds … 🙂
And the straw tip … is that just following wisdom teeth extraction or is that an “always thing”? This is new to me and I tend to drink my smoothies right out of the mason jar with a straw.
And you are surely no less WISE … I think they need to rename those teeth and hire you to do it! xoxo
Such wise words! I had all four out at the same time when I was in college… no one ever suggested doing just two at a time! Like your experience, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, thankfully. At least my mom came down to DC to take care of me, and my friends brought me ice cream. 🙂
I ended up with one “dry socket” when I had 2 wisdoms pulled some 6-7 years ago. My memory has erased many of the particular details; pain pills were involved. My husband-to-be took good care of me and we got through it, but the experience was indeed a nightmare. Glad your procedure went smoothly, and love the polished and humorous style in which you wrote this post.
I’m glad it went well. I’m relieved you know about going without the straw. I need to tell you about arnica. You can get it both topically and little tiny guys to put under your tongue. I’ll be curious to know what your wise self (with less teeth) feels about this. I am convinced my arnica experience did wonders for my oral surgery (gum related).
I went HOG WILD on the stuff and the surgeon, when he saw me, said, “What have you been doing?!” He was amazed at how good I looked. Clean livin’ and lots of arnica.
Lots of love.
How funny. I had all 5! wisdom teeth out on Christmas Eve during the holiday break my freshman year of college. Apparently, I had a “supernumiary” tooth, which took the # to 5. How wise! At the Christmas Eve service that night when everyone kept telling me how “college” I looked, I secretly wondered if it was because I looked like I’d gained the freshman 15 in my face thanks to the wisdom extraction. But, I was glad to have them out none-the-less and was glad my front teeth didn’t crowd any more after all the extras were taken out. Now, several years later when I got a root canal…another story for another day. 🙂 Suffice it to say my husband rubbed my feet while it was happening until the “gas” took over & made the pain go away.
“post your quandary on Facebook”….I’m cracking up at this!!
Thank you for sharing.
The cauliflower and avocado sounds amazing!
Peace,
Shannon
I had all four out at the same time, but in the hospital no less… and I can’t remember my age because it was so long ago… they were impacted so I was put to sleep … woke up… it was all over and my mom and rest of the family felt so bad, they waited on me for 3 days…
Thanks for tips and comments!