I’m getting two wisdom teeth pulled soon and it’s the scariest thing I have done in a while. The truth is I was supposed to do this 13 years ago when they first grew in. I was almost 30 and thought for sure I had lucked out in the dental lottery because most of my friends had already gone through this in high school or college. By my 29th birthday, I had two wisdom teeth that were fully grown in.
One day during a routine cleaning, my dentist had convinced me to get them removed. X-rays confirmed the there two were not going to grow in so she considered me lucky. I scheduled the surgery but I already knew I wasn’t going to go through with it when I booked the appointment. I rescheduled the surgery three times then finally called them to say it just wasn’t a good time for me.
I had even given them a deposit of $250 that I never went back to get because I was now a wisdom tooth adult on the run.
For almost 15 years, every dentist has advised that I take them out.
“Your teeth will start to shift.” They didn’t.
“They are hard to brush.” Okay.
“You will get cavities.” I made sure to brush back there “extra good.”
Well. I guess I got caught slipping.
A couple of weeks ago I was drinking a cold adult beverage and felt some kind of pang in my mouth. Now I usually only drink coffee and room temperature water on your average day and a cocktail on a good day so not sure how long whatever was brewing was there.
A couple more days passed before I had something cold to drink again.
When I did, I almost fell out of my chair.
That one beverage awakened some evil devil because after that, I couldn’t eat anything hot or cold without extreme pain. I had to avoid the left side of my mouth altogether.
A few more days later I’m in the dentist’s chair and am told I have a cavity on one of my wisdom teeth. It was so far back they had to take an x-ray to see everything. Dr. B, who was new to the practice I have been going to for years, has me walk her through how I was 43 with two wisdom teeth.
She is the first African American dentist I ever had so I proceed to tell her the truth as I felt some sort of kinship towards her. When I’m done with the story, she tells me I *need* to remove both of my wisdom teeth ASAP. Before I knew it, I booked the surgery for two days later.
As I was driving home, I kept thinking about the upcoming weekend trip I had, plus all my work I had to complete before I left which would have been done on surgery day. Then I had a brilliant idea. I called Dr. B’s office. You see, I’m of the opinion there is always another option. I asked why we couldn’t just fill the cavity. It made sense to me since we do that with other teeth. Why not wisdom teeth?
Dr. B explained this basically was a *bad idea* and a *waste of money* because based on the pain I was in, it was possible that the cavity could not be filled seeing how far it was in my mouth and they usually don’t advise filling cavities on teeth that should be and are ultimately removed.
One hour later, I was back in her chair and Dr. B was filling that cavity.
Two days later I called to say I could now eat with no pain but cold food or beverages were still not my friends and *perhaps we still had more cavity to fill…?*
Back in her chair I went where Dr. B confirmed that my only option was to remove both wisdom teeth or eventually suffer a slow and painful death.
As I weighed my options, I was swiftly invited to head to reception to finalize my choice because I suppose they had other patients to see and I guess they had already been more than patient and gracious with me and my scaredy cat shenanigans. I was given a tube of what ultimately turned out to be the sensitive tooth miracle worker, and told to give it a try to help alleviate my pain.
As I was escorted to the front, the kind hygienist tasked with walking me back to the front and/or out the door, told me that *at best,* with today’s *modern-day* procedures, I would be fine by the evening of my *procedure* and back to my *usual self* by the next day.
HA! I have read enough Facebook posts to know this is not at al true.
I booked my surgery anyway *without* general anesthesia because apparently the whole procedure would take 30 minutes tops and for an extra $1600 dollars out-of-pocket, I was told being put under would only prolong my recovery and make the entire procedure way more completed.
So here I am, about 24 hours to go before surgery, and again, I’m having second thoughts. The Sensodyne I have been using religiously has actually made a huge difference. I am now mostly able to drink cool liquids and I feel almost 100%. It makes me wonder, do I really ever need to drink cold liquids again?
Technically, I love a good scotch or bourbon neat and don’t need to drink other beverages cold. I can drink all other cocktails chilled provided I lather up on Sensodyne about 30 minutes before I partake. Then I’m good for a few hours. I already prefer my water room temperature, AND, I’ve adjusted pretty well in the last 10 days I have been waiting for this surgery to take place. I almost think I have figured this all out.
We are already all adapting to a current new normal thanks to a global pandemic so what’s one more adjustment to make? Adulting is already hard so this is small all things considered.
So, I guess my question to you guys is, what’s your favorite non-iced cocktail? I think I may go back to my martini days for the days that I’m not in the mood for a good bourbon.
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