Dental Disaster or Wisdom - Twice Removed

As Brandon was preparing to quit his job and go without dental insurance, we decided to actually use our coverage to get checkups. It had been a while, but as I'd never had a cavity (that's right, I'm 30 and British - beating the odds, folks!) I never made visiting the dentist much of a priority. A friend of ours from church is a great dentist around here and we thought we'd give him our business - but as I was confident there wouldn't be much wrong with our teeth, i didn't think it would be much business when all was said and done. Ah Michelle. Young, naive Michelle. Brandon ended up with several cavities and I myself had two small ones. Devastating. But I could live with it. It was my dentist's next question that came as the bigger surprise. "Did you know you still have your wisdom teeth?" I laughed. "Oh, I got those out when I was 20," came my haughty reply. One x-ray and a thorough investigation later, I still had 4 very intact wisdom teeth. What exactly I was sedated for at my dentist's office in 2003 is now shrouded in a whole lot of mystery. I would ask them what procedure it was that my parents paid for and from which I remember waking up, but the office is closed. The plot thickens...

But my investigation would have to wait, as I needed to decide what to do about those pesky wisdom teeth that either grew back (making me twice as wise?) or flew under the radar for years. Being friends with your dentist is a definite plus and his advice was to get them taken care of while I still had insurance and that he could do it without sedation, making it more affordable for us. That sounded like a great idea. Until I was in the chair, with his entire hand in my mouth for the better part of an hour. I had local anesthetic, but the effect is lessened when you can hear every crack and break as four teeth are pulverized and extracted from your mouth. I still have nightmares and hear the crackling late at night. If they grow back a third time, I'm going for laughing gas. Or a gun. It was very kind of him to take care of it for me, though and now that it's over and I still have arms and legs and my firstborn, I'm happy to have saved the money.

 

As gross as you may find it, I asked that I see the legendary teeth to confirm that I did indeed have my wisdom teeth removed this time. The proof is in the pudding. If the pudding were gauze.

And regardless of whether you're awake for an extraction or not, your cheeks will balloon - it's a fact. As chubby as my chipmunk cheeks already are, they doubled (perhaps even tripled) in size following my procedure. I couldn't feel my lips for quite some time, so chapstick application was quite an adventure. My chin has never looked so glossy and luscious.

 

I had forgotten that I had scheduled my appointment on such a busy day and had to race home to feed the missionaries. That's right, I agreed to feed the Elders mere hours after my dentist wrenched, twisted and ripped teeth from my gums. I couldn't speak much on account of the gauze I was soaking through every few minutes, nor could I eat what I'd prepared.

I was pretty limited in that I couldn't chew, but I also couldn't suck from a straw. I went hungry for a while. I also didn't have much time to eat that day, as I was also responsible for making some Relief Society visits to new sisters in our ward. I'm sure I made quite the impression, on pain meds with blood dripping from my mouth. I'm counting on some extra blessings for those particular visits. I really felt it the next day and was glad to have a little more downtime than I'd enjoyed the day before. I did, however, have to prepare a talk for Sunday. That's a fun story on the next page.

I spent a lot of time cuddling my kids. I spend a lot of time with them, and of course there's major resemblance, but even more so when I was sporting my chipmunk cheeks. It was kind of hilarious.

 

 Our diet even started to look the same.

The next week, I took Teagan to a pediatric dentist, and I'm glad I took her after my visit, or I would have been really disappointed with my dentist's office. I would have loved a fishtank that spanned a wall, a TV on the ceiling playing my choice of 5 awesome movies (it should go without saying that she chose Frozen) and drawers full of toys to choose from, but alas. Apparently I'm supposed to be a grown-up. I was really impressed with the office and all of its staff. It was interesting to sit in the room with her to observe how she'd respond to a stranger in uniform asking her to do things. The hygienist was great - they obviously go through special training on dealing with kids. She told Teagan exactly what she'd be doing and let her feel the electric toothbrush on her finger before it went in her mouth and was just really kind and understanding. What could have been a really scary experience for my 3 year old, with the potential to scar her into adulthood was actually a really fun trip for her. Phew!

The Richards' teeth went through a lot this week. Glad Mason doesn't have any yet.