Removing Wisdom Teeth – the Why and How
My wisdom tooth started growing recently. After a week of suffering the pain in silence, I gave in and paid my dentist a visit. He confirmed what I had been afraid of – I had to get it removed.
This made me wonder, why do we have to remove our wisdom teeth, anyway? When the human race was only beginning to develop, our jaws were much larger, Back then, we didn’t have dentists to go to or such technological and medicinal marvels as Listerine (how DID they live??) and oral hygiene was much worse than it is today. Teeth were much more likely to decay and fall out. Wisdom teeth were present to replace and supplement lost teeth. Over time, our jaws grew smaller and pulled back on out face (leaving behind the protrusion that we now call a chin). We now have toothbrushes and paste, floss, mouthwashes, and dentists, and are much less likely to lose our teeth due to bad care and decay.
Because of the lack of space in our mouths, the teeth that once existed to help us now cause more problems than they solve. When a wisdom tooth begins to grow, there is a large chance that it will become impacted – that is, be blocked or prevented from growing properly. This can cause severe pain and discomfort, misalignment and crowding of the other teeth, infection, or, in more severe cases, a cyst may form.
After pestering my dentist for a bit, he admitted that my growing wisdom tooth was, in fact, growing relatively straight. Why, then, did I still have to get it removed? Even teeth that grow in straight can cause problems. Some emerge only partially through the gums and can cause an infection. Because they are so far back in our mouths, they are difficult to clean and take good care of.
Many people are advised to have their wisdom teeth removed in their youth, even if they had not yet started growing. This is to prevent future complications which are almost sure to occur. Also, a surgery that is fairly simple for young people to go through is much more difficult as you grow older. Young people recover faster and have fewer risks and complications.
Okay, now I was convinced. The next morning I was sitting in the oral surgeon’s waiting room, doing just that, and watching Channel 1 News replay their stories for a little less than six hours and a little less than my mind could handle. When I was finally called inside, I discovered that my insurance doesn’t cover general anesthesia (I could hear them saying “We’ll pay for your eventual relief but immediate torture”), so I settled down and prepared for a long and bumpy ride.
It took five minutes.
Five short and surprisingly painless minutes later I stumbled out of the room, managed to mumble my name to a receptionist through a mouthful of gauze, and was soon in the comfort of home. The pain didn’t hit me until about two hours later (in a moment of utter cockiness, I had passed up on the painkillers), and for a while I felt like drilling a hole in the wall, with my head, but it only lasted for about an hour.
Besides having to take antibiotics, and eating nothing but soup and yoghurt for about two days, my recovery was quick and easy. I came out of the experience a wiser woman (with one less wisdom tooth) and with the conclusion that after all, it wasn’t all that bad.
