The wisdom teeth saga
The other day, Erica was telling me that my life sounds like a movie. Well, here's a story for you. True. Also kinda gross, so stop now if you get queasy.
My brother's wisdom teeth came in when he was a junior in high school. My parents thought, "Hey, let's kill two birds with one stone and get Lauren's out at the same time!" So my sophomore year, the day before Thanksgiving, I got them out. This is not a new trend. I also had my tonsils out the day after Christmas when I was 7. But I digress.
Anyway, the surgeon said afterward that my teeth were so far impacted that they never would have caused a problem. He literally had to remove the jaw from the model skull in order to show us where they had been located. Ah, that would explain why my cheeks were more swollen then my jaw for a few days.
To make matters worse, I got two dry sockets. That basically means that the blood clot falls out prematurely, leaving the bone exposed to whatever happens to enter your mouth (air, food, liquid, etc.) The treatment for this is that they cram a stiff piece of gauze soaked in clove oil into the hole. I have no idea what this is supposed to accomplish, but it means that everything you eat tastes like cloves. But every time they yank those suckers out, it just opens everything back up again. If you ask me, it hurts more than it helps.
Then my two lower holes healed on the surface before they healed underneath, causing infection to start eating away at my jawbone. Consequently, I awoke on New Year's Day unable to open my mouth at all. So they had to open it all back up and break away part of my bone. Oh, by the way, they didn't put me under for that. Or give me the Nitrous. Meaning I was fully awake and aware that they were breaking my jawbone. Even worse than the taste or sight of blood? The smell. And the sound of breaking bone, especially when you can also feel it resonating through your head. I don't recommend that.
So remember how this all started with Tim? He ate a cheeseburger the same day and Thanksgiving dinner the next day. I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to eat a grape for three months. I literally had to squish all my food and wiggle it between my teeth. I don't know if you've ever experienced the inability to open your mouth, but it is pretty darn frustrating. I would lie in bed at night and pull on my jaw, trying to get the muscles to release just a few more millimeters.
Oh well. I guess it all worked out. I never have to worry about those silly wisdom teeth causing any fictional problems.
My brother's wisdom teeth came in when he was a junior in high school. My parents thought, "Hey, let's kill two birds with one stone and get Lauren's out at the same time!" So my sophomore year, the day before Thanksgiving, I got them out. This is not a new trend. I also had my tonsils out the day after Christmas when I was 7. But I digress.
Anyway, the surgeon said afterward that my teeth were so far impacted that they never would have caused a problem. He literally had to remove the jaw from the model skull in order to show us where they had been located. Ah, that would explain why my cheeks were more swollen then my jaw for a few days.
To make matters worse, I got two dry sockets. That basically means that the blood clot falls out prematurely, leaving the bone exposed to whatever happens to enter your mouth (air, food, liquid, etc.) The treatment for this is that they cram a stiff piece of gauze soaked in clove oil into the hole. I have no idea what this is supposed to accomplish, but it means that everything you eat tastes like cloves. But every time they yank those suckers out, it just opens everything back up again. If you ask me, it hurts more than it helps.
Then my two lower holes healed on the surface before they healed underneath, causing infection to start eating away at my jawbone. Consequently, I awoke on New Year's Day unable to open my mouth at all. So they had to open it all back up and break away part of my bone. Oh, by the way, they didn't put me under for that. Or give me the Nitrous. Meaning I was fully awake and aware that they were breaking my jawbone. Even worse than the taste or sight of blood? The smell. And the sound of breaking bone, especially when you can also feel it resonating through your head. I don't recommend that.
So remember how this all started with Tim? He ate a cheeseburger the same day and Thanksgiving dinner the next day. I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to eat a grape for three months. I literally had to squish all my food and wiggle it between my teeth. I don't know if you've ever experienced the inability to open your mouth, but it is pretty darn frustrating. I would lie in bed at night and pull on my jaw, trying to get the muscles to release just a few more millimeters.
Oh well. I guess it all worked out. I never have to worry about those silly wisdom teeth causing any fictional problems.