Here is the story of my wisdom teeth. One of my parents had two on the top, and the other had two on the bottom. So they figured that their kids would either have the top two, the bottom two, none, or all four. My younger sister is going on a mission to Korea soon and the church requires you to get your wisdom teeth out before you leave so that you won't have to do it while on your mission. But lo and behold, she has none. Lucky.
I started going to the dentist every 6 months after I got married. I had 3 cavities the first time I went but I also hadn't been in years. They were almost root canals. It was gross. And my family is supposed to have good teeth. I brush my teeth every day. So I was kind of disappointed. Well, my dentist at school doesn't specialize in wisdom teeth so they couldn't take the special x-ray. They told me I should go get it checked out just in case, but they weren't bothering me and I didn't want to pay for it so I forgot about it. 6 months later, I was pregnant so they didn't take an x-ray. 6 months later, they told me it looked like I had all four wisdom teeth but again they couldn't tell on their regular x-rays. They referred me to a specialist over an hour away and told me it would be about $1,000. We don't have insurance. Awesome. I wanted to wait until after the summer when we had more time and money.
But then I started getting intense headaches when we got out to Fresno. One of Bear's coworker's cousins is a dentist. We decided to go see him because of the pain a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, I only had 3 wisdom teeth. (I thought you could only get them in multiples of two?) Again, I'm not fitting the expectations of my family's genetics. The trident looking thing is my earring. My top one needs to come out. There's no room. But the bottom ones aren't impacting, aren't infected, and the roots are super long and curve towards the back like the shape of an "L". They also both run through a huge nerve that affects most of my face. The surgery would be long, complicated, and there's a chance the nerve could get damaged during surgery. The recovery would be long too. So he recommended just getting the top one out. It's okay to leave the bottom two unless there's an infection.
So...this is a huge relief because I didn't want a long, complicated surgery and I'm scared of anesthesia (I've never gone under before). But I'm also scared of pain. So knowing that I don't have to get all 4 out, and that I don't have to go under makes me feel better. The appointment is set for July 29th! Wish me luck!
P.S. The headaches had nothing to do with my wisdom teeth. The dentist touched spots on my face and head and inside my mouth that should be sensitive if it was the wisdom teeth. But I was fine. It ends up that a lot of people that are new to the area get headaches. I don't know if it's the water, or the air or what. But they have gone away now. I just want this tooth out so I can have some peace of mind!
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