Photos by Sydney photographer Daniel Boud
In an apparant act of sympathy for elmo’s decrepit teeth my pearly whites have decided to rebel and give me all sorts of grief. On Monday the gum round one of my wisdom teeth swelled up, hurt like buggery and stopped me from being able to chew properly. In my usual manner i expected it to just go away so ignored it. Many painkillers and soft mushy meals later i figured i ought to get it checked out.
So today i went to a dentist, something i haven’t done for almost 10 years (the horror!) and it reminded me why i’ve avoided it all these years. They’re always telling you bad news and invariably want to jab or drill things into you or rip things from your delicate flesh.
So now i’m popping 3 pills every meal, two antibiotics and a painkiller. Plus i can’t drink alcohol for the next week and bit which puts paid to plans for boozy homecoming celebrations.
I have another appointment on Monday. I just know they’re going to tell me i have to have my wisdom teeth pulled. I can’t handle the thought. It’s barbaric wrenching teeth from gums. I’m such a wimp when it comes to these things.
Better listen to what your dentist says. It’s not uncommon for people to have their jaw dislocated or broken to reach the offending teeth because they left the procedure too late!!
It is not that bad. Just make sure you have a good dentist. It is best to take out the ones that are hurting or playing up now, when one is young.
i just had my wisdom tooth taken out, in a small town in Patagonia and it was not that bad, i kept the tooth as a memory and the dentist said i was brave and must have nordic blood as the tooth was huge.
OK, this is really cruel but have a listen to these sounds before you see the dentist.
I also haven’t been for a while and have an appointment this arvo
Ten years, Daniel?
How I adore you. I thought I was the only one with awful dental habits. I’ve only been ONCE IN MY LIFE and that was when I was twelve. He glanced, said “They’re perfect, go” and I never went back.
I blame my parents. One day my teeth are gonna hurt and I won’t have a clue what to do.
A trip to the dentist a while ago was so painful, my natural reaction was to clamp my mouth shut, and bite. Dentist had his thumbs in my mouth and I pierced thru the gloves and made him bleed. Oops. Must be my Translyvanian genes.
Hope your dentist is kind (and not a butcher, like mine) and that the painkillers are doing the trick.
Lap up all the affection and ice cream you can while you are in so much pain.
My wisdom teeth and I were forcibly separated a few years back… I had general anaesthetic, which wimp-wise rocks so much more than local (plus you get to do the whole count-backwards thing). They gave me a mask, I went nigh-nighs and a short while later woke up minus four teeth and with disappointingly little swelling.
Hey! My wisdom teeth are giving me grief at the moment too!
We are totally connected, Daniel Boud.
p.s. I haven’t been to my dentist since we had an all-in brawl about the Iraq war and I stormed out in a shrill fit of lefty pique. I will return once she ADMITS SHE WAS WRONG.
Mate
I went to the dentists last month for the first time in 12 years fearing all sorts of torture. It was fine, he said my teeth were great and apart from receeding gums it’s all good. They gave me a polish and a scrub and sent me on my way.
Plus he was really nice and the whole experience destroyed my fear of dentists.
I was so happy I could of cried.
Plus I got my smile back!
Now hows that for a slice of pure gold??!?!
Wow, I guess you’re going to hate hearing this, but what kind of person would I be if I didn’t want to inflict additional pain on someone who is already in so much?
I go to the dentist every year and have never had anything wrong with my teeth…EVER! ^_^
i do though, have a wisdom tooth at the but only on the top. Apparently if I don’t have it removed it will keep on growing until it cannae grow no more!
Nice eh?
Good luck with the wizzies! I’ve got an appointment at 9am this morning. At least I know what he’s going to be doing. I had to have a tooth totally removed and replaced with an implant. I’ve had all my wizzies out but nothing really beats the dentist telling you a) you have to see the periodontist and have a titanium bolt set into your jawbone, and b) that and the false tooth are going to set you back about $5000.
Little known fact about wisdom teeth: when we were cavepeople and lost our teeth more regularly the wisdom teeth would come in and push the remaining teeth forward to help close up some gaps.
I guess this is not a good time to tell you about the most painful surgery I ever had and it being about my wisdom teeth, right?
hello
I am afraid…
I hate to go to the dentist. I think the last time I went to dentist when I was a child (I’m now 23) and so long I live in netherlands I’ve never been to the dentist. Correct what you wrote, I hate to hear the bad news from the doctor
Not to scare you, cuz this is really rare anyway, but my husband, when he had those pulled, his roots were very long, extending to his jawbone, which cracked when one was removed. Boo!
Good lord. eek.
I had an x-ray done of my teeth, one of the wisdom teeth appears to have 3 curly roots. When the dentist started talking about having bits of gum and bone removed in order to extract the tooth i had to do my best not to faint.
Ahh, more wisdom tooth horror stories. I had mine taken out before I had braces put on 4 years ago (the braces are since off again, thank fuck.) The problem, though, was that because they were still impacted (ie: under the gum) I had to be knocked out only to have my gums cut open and the teeth wrenched out. Then I spent the 2 weeks after that on some wonderful painkillers, but sadly Christmas lunch, that year, was ruined for me. Oh, and if you need the stitches, don’t get the dissolvable one’s made out of cat’s intestine, they taste… well, I’m sure you can imagine.
ew cat’s intestine, they never told me that! Well I’ve had all four out, two back home courtesy of the ‘healthcare’ card system and two out on the same day here in London. Sorry to say it better experience was had here in London, where the dentist thought he was a comedian ~ joking that he couldn’t get the worst one out and would have to take me to hospital, he then dropped the offending toothey peg onto my bib.. Best to get it over a done with I reckon.
when i was 4 the dentist gave me too much novacaine. then he gave me these cotton ball things and told me to chew on them to soak up the saliva. i ended up biting thru my tongue but i didnt feel it at all. i honestly had no idea what was going on. i had to get stitches on my tongue. now i cant taste salt because the scar formed on that part of my tongue. no wonder nobody likes dentists.
I went so long before getting my wisdom teeth out, that one in the back upper rotted, and I had to go in for an emergency filing, so the tooth wouldn’t scratch the inside of my cheek! I finally had them removed, and all four were impacted. Good thing for anesthesia, cuz they had to crush each tooth first before removing them. Really wasn’t in much pain afterwards, but I couldn’t open my mouth any wider than to suck from a straw for a week, and couldn’t do solid food for almost 3. My advice…get it done as soon as you can. You’ll be so glad to get it over with!!! 0_0