Teething

[mrissa]

Oh, the indignity. My body has decided to make up for being an early bloomer in every other respect one can imagine by waiting until now to produce my top left wisdom tooth. I had been telling people I only had the bottom two, like my mom. Apparently I have three wisdom teeth. How bizarre. I'm nearly 27. I should not be teething.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have no wisdom teeth, and no brow ridges. One of my Anthro professors characterized me as being on the cutting edge of evolution.

Admittedly, shortly after that I discovered that I do not have the mutant ability to digest milk into adulthood, so I think I lost my evolutionary street cred there.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

Ook. I have brow ridges, probably a superior nuchal line, and had diastemas before the braces. Gronk SMASH.

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

eee! ouch! Hope that's not too painful for you. Mine came in at about 24, and I had them removed because they hurtsed, precious.

[fiddledragon]

My wisdom teeth never fully came in - and have been very slowly coming in over the past 10 years, but at 31, they were giving me lots of headaches, and I finally had them removed (ie., my fear of the procedure finally lost out to reason). That being said, it sucked having them out that late, and I wish i hadn't gone that long.

[palinade.livejournal.com]

I had my uppers removed around age 27, too. They took a long long time to come down and before those X-rays, the dentist wasn't sure I was going to have upper wisdom teeth. Recovery from the upper removal was faster and less painful than the lower for me.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

I hope you have a surgeon check it out. I can tell by looking at your picture that you've got a small bone structure and would bet dollars to donuts you don't have room for that tooth even if it is not causing problems, now. My wisdom tooth extraction was no problem--minimal pain, no complications. You're young and healthy. You'll be fine.

(And how strange that it waited until you were such an old grownup type person to emerge!)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This is funny, because I think of myself as large-boned. We had an argument to that effect not long ago:
"You are not big-boned."
"I am, too! I have a big ribcage!"
"No, you have a small waist."
"...Oh."

Anyway, we have dental insurance, and I've had it on my list to get an appointment, so I'll just have them look when I'm in, as long as it doesn't get more immediately problematic.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

Well, heck. I have no idea. I have a friend who is many inches taller than me, but her wrists look like a little child's next to mine. And I'm not a particularly hefty person. *shrug* Your dentist will know what to do.

[mkille.livejournal.com]

I used to think I was large-boned. Then I met Laura's family. I think if you taped both my wrists or ankles together, it would be about the size of one of theirs. And let's not talk about heads.

[mkille.livejournal.com]

I should make it clear that I'm not complaining. When one has a wife who can remove cement blocks embedded in one's backyard simply by kicking them repeatedly, well, that's a physique that comes in handy.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It is also a good thing to remember that one didn't inherit that physique even when some of one's relatives have it. So that one doesn't injure oneself kicking cement blocks.

She said entirely hypothetically.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

You poor thing.

600 mg ibuprofen every six hours. Take with small meal.

And if that doesn't help, call the doctor and explain the situation.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

In my head, the doctor says, "What kind of a wimp are you? It's just a little tooth, for heaven's sake."

So this isn't what they say in real life, huh?

[ladysea.livejournal.com]

hehe. no.

They pat your hand, say yes...yes...it hurts...lets take it out.


=)

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Um, not any doctor who's been THROUGH it.

Worst three weeks of my life, I tell you.

I still have to have my wisdom teeth out (I've had rather limited dental insurance for the last 6 years), and I'm delaying, because them coming IN was so darned bad.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Let's hope we don't have to live on smoothies together, then.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I've had only one emerge--at age 45.

[dendrophilous.livejournal.com]

Sympathies. Mine have been coming in throughout my 20s, though mostly without bothering me at all.

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Ellameena's comment about having room for your new teeth is a valid concern.

My wisdom teeth came in at age 17 and caused me no overt problems. But my teeth got way too crowded... but my dentist at the time never said anything.

That's just an excerpt from a much longer saga, but now, after eight extractions (including wisdoms), major jaw surgery, and almost five years of braces (I'm almost done! Yay!), my advice to you is: talk to your dentist not just about the pain, but about whether you have room for the wisdom teeth. If they shift other teeth forward you could get bite problems.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

Yes, sometimes they seem okay, but slowly push your teeth out of alignment. I actually had mine extracted before they even emerged because they were under my other molars. Then again I had a large malocclusion that required surgery. Wisdom teeth: nature's little joke.

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I'm not sure I want to know how they extract wisdom teeth that are under molars...

...but I'm too much like the elephant's child not to ask. Do they go in from the side or what?

[ellarien]

Mine made vague attempts to come through when I was in my late teens, which was uncomfortable enough that at 19 I consented to having them all removed before they actually erupted, along with an unerupted pre-molar that was making a noticeable bulge in the roof of my mouth. That involved general anaesthesia and two nights in hospital, and left me with slight but permanent nerve damage on the lower left jaw. I think it was the best part of a month before I could fully open my mouth. I hope yours don't cause problems, or at least that they can be dealt with without trauma.

[gwynnega]

The same thing happened to me - except I think I was in my early thirties when my third wisdom tooth showed up!

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Spud would be willing to lend you a cold ring and some Ambesol if you ask him nicely. :)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Awwwww.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, got my own top right wisdom tooth coming in at the speed of sludge. It's charming. Hope dealing with the tooth doesn't cause you too much trouble.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You'll be 30 before I'm 27, Oldie McGeezerson.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Women don't get to be distinguished anyway. Women just get to be old.

Well, and occasionally battleaxes. Men hardly ever get to be battleaxes. This is some comfort.

[gaaldine.livejournal.com]

*sigh* *I'd* rather be distinguished than a battleaxe. I'm aiming for poised, but I'm pretty sure I'll fail.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It is hard to be poised with the_overqual poking you repeatedly and snickering behind his hand. If you manage it, it will be an epic achievement.