3.16.2006

gummy bare

When I was maybe 5 or so, my Dad had his wisdom teeth out. They were so impacted, it required general anesthesia and an overnight hospital stay. I was somewhere in my teens when Mom had hers out — the oral surgeon severed a nerve and her tongue is still numb on one side.

Over the years, my dentists have told me both that wisdom teeth should come out, and that they don't have to. Based on my immediate family experience, I decided that they could stay riiiight where they were, thankyouverymuch. The top 2 had sprouted (I don't think that the correct dental terminology, but you know what I mean) — one in the mid '90s, one around 2000 — and the bottom two were still asleep in their gummy beds.

Since the top two wisdom teeth were "unopposed" (and that is the correct dental terminology), I was warned they might move around. I dunno about that... how can you tell? They were still there every morning when I woke up. I was also told that they'd be harder to keep clean, and that I can definitely say I experienced first-hand. Despite what most of you think, apparently I have a small mouth. It's a pain getting back there. And, as fate and insufficient brushing and flossing would have it, my new Santa Fe dentist discovered a cavity in one of them last fall.

So. Get a filling or have it yanked?

Well, as you've probably guessed by now, I decided on the latter. This afternoon I said goodbye to my top, driver's side wisdom tooth, or, as they called it at Dr. Roybal's office, "16." So long, tooth. Enjoy your new life in the little plastic box where Bram keeps his wisdom teeth.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice tooth Monica.

However Bram's collection may be not be real.

We have a whole box of teeth here which we think were his. Maybe they were Nicole's (our deceased Lab Retriever) - some of them do look like canines.

Bram said...

Well, that box can't belong to me. I've got my wisdom teeth here with me. And I know that the tooth fairy took all the others. My parents told me so.

andy said...

you can't handle the tooth

Anonymous said...

Wow, who knew so many people saved their teeth nevermind their pet's teeth. Perhaps you could combine them in some way to make a Christmas Tree ornament. Titled: Dental Wonderland?
Do you retain the wisdom just by retaining the tooth?

Anonymous said...

It just goes to show that sometimes tooth is stranger than fiction.