Our daughter is home for the holidays. What better way to spend the time than having her wisdom teeth extracted?!? We were hoping that she wouldn’t need to have this procedure done, but you know what they say about the best laid plans…
As I write this, she is taking a nap in the family room>>> still highly medicated from the morning’s earlier surgery. Our son had his wisdom teeth taken out when he was a little younger than she is, and we made several mistakes (that we learned from!) with his surgery.
For anyone looking at this process: consider the actual time of the surgery. I am so much happier with our daughter’s time of 8:30 AM. This way I can keep an eye on her all day long, making sure that everything is 100% OK before bedtime. My son did his own scheduling (mid-afternoon) which meant that I worried throughout the night and kept checking on him while he was asleep (more like “passed out” from the anesthesia.)
The other difference between their wisdom teeth procedures. My husband insisted that our son was an adult (over 18) and that he could handle the pre-op decisions. What a mistake that was! His oral surgeon actually had an “assembly line” going!!! He would anesthetize one patient, go extract another patient’s teeth, go work on another patient, ETC. All in all he had FOUR dental chairs going at the same time! (That explained how this particular dentist was able to work such a short week!) I insisted on going to the oral surgeon”s office with my daughter, and although I let her do most of the talking, I had a few questions of my own!
Anyway, I don’t mean to add one more worry to the already-long list of parental concerns for those of you who are parents of younger children, but I really don’t see the wisdom of wisdom teeth. I mean, if man can walk on the moon, why haven’t we evolved enough to no longer have those pesky molars in our mouths!
Larraine says
When I was in my mid-40’s, I woke up one morning with an odd feeling in my mouth: not quite a toothache but…. I made a dental appointment. When my dentist peered into my mouth, he exclaimed that I still had my wisdom teeth. Since I had never had any teeth pulled, I guess I knew that. He told me I was the oldest person he knew who still had their wisdom teeth. My son is nearly 30 and still has his also. My mother always said I inherited her father’s teeth. He was an Italian immigrant who never visited a dentist that we knew of, and had every tooth in his mouth when he died – including perhaps his wisdom teeth. A few years ago my son sent me an email that said “Hey, Mom! Thanks for the teeth.” His dentist said he had some of the best teeth he had ever seen. Since I’ve had to struggle with my weight all of my life, it seems only fair that SOMETHING should work out. Mine are my teeth!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hi Larraine,
Are we related?!? My great grandmother and grandmother, as well as my father, had all of their own teeth… in perfect condition (for their ages… 98, 86, and 79.) Unfortunately, both of our children’s mouths started crowding (after years of braces and retainers) so they both made the decisions to have their wisdom teeth extracted.
My husband and I believe that wisdom teeth (if they don’t crowd your mouth) and tonsils (if they don’t cause chronic throat infections) are superfluous surgeries… pretty much benefiting the surgeons who perform these operations. (Of course, these are only our opinions, and we certainly don’t endorse/push them!)
It sure is nice to be appreciated by sons and daughters. How nice that your son took the time to write that message of thanks to you!