When I was little and I had this thing about doctors. . . I loved them, and wished I could go there more often. You know the little smarty candies that came in the long clear plastic packages all rolled up? You don't see them very often any more, but they used to be the big thing. Those were my favorite candies BECAUSE they looked like medicine pills. . . . I was one strange kid!
But then I finally went to the doctors office. . . and they gave me four shots on my legs. . . at the same time. Let me tell you! No longer did I like going to the doctor's office! And the dentist. . . well. . . getting braces took care of that pretty quickly. Now I despise the mere thought of going to a doctor or dentist office! Well. . . after moving, I hadn't gotten my teeth cleaned or checked for quite some time, so just the other day we went. :} The x-rays weren't as bad as they usually are, and even though I was tense throughout the entire cleaning I could bare it! I could have lived to snatch up my little bag of tooth brush, tooth paste, little container of floss that lasts about a week, and even that little needly thingy to thread the floss under the metal bar that the other dentist put beneath my lower front teeth to keep them in place when the braces came off.
. . . . But no. . . the x-rays HAD to show that my wisdom teeth were coming in. . . and OF COURSE they're coming in crooked, and don't have enough room. :{ I had dearly hoped that I would follow my mom and sister in the way of there being enough room, or at least them stopping and not having to be removed! But I guess that was too much to hope. . . .
So. . . sometime (I don't know exactly when yet) I am going to get my wisdom teeth removed. :(
I had and have only ONE question after that appointment disappointment (ever notice how similar those 2 words are??): What in the world are wisdom teeth even for anyway? I mean, practically everyone gets them taken out, so obvious it's not some survival thing. . . otherwise we'd all be dead right now! :\
Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.
~ElizabethMarieKauffman~
5 comments:
One of my wisdom teeth is REALLY crooked, but the rest are okay. And the dentist wanted to take them ALL out. Now, there's something wrong with that...
Smarty candies (I think they look like medicine pills as well!)
I love the white ones!!
My word! That is so funny (and yet not at the same time) about the words "appointment" and "disappointment" being really similar (and I would agree that they go hand in hand - I have the same views as you do about the dreaded 'DR.' at the beginning of any name).
I really don't know what wisdom teeth are for (that's really weird that I haven't thought of it), but I do know that make when their were no dentist (sounds lovely eh?) they didn't worry about wisdom teeth because by the time they came through you had already lost enough teeth to make room for the ones coming up (...okay...maybe dentist aren't all that bad...).
-Libby
PS
love the pic by the way. A chill went down my back when I fist saw it (and realized that in just a few weeks it'll be me in that chair! *chewsnails*)
Okay, I had to look it up.
Here's a answer that makes the most sense,
“Most likely, the root (pun?) of this question is "why do wisdom teeth erupt so late, and why are they often surgically removed?"
Well, most likely, wisdom teeth erupt late in puberty, since that is when there is finally room for them in the jaw. Hence the name "wisdom teeth" since they arrive about the same time as young adulthood.
Historically, teeth were used much more harshly than in recent times, and having a fresh set of brand new molars (wisdom teeth are the last set of four molars to erupt, one in each quadrant of the mouth, and complete the complement of 32 teeth in the adult) was a "good thing".
The reasons that wisdom teeth can be a bit of a problem for some is that the size of the jaw has tended to decrease over generations, and for many, the last 4 molars to erupt just don't have much room. This can cause them to come in at the angle of the jawbone, and cause the lower wisdom teeth to actually grow forward, rather than up, and push the existing molars, causing "impaction", and usually much discomfort. The uppers can do sort of the opposite and grow backwards, causing some similar, although less painful, symptoms.
The most effective way to deal with this is to have them surgically removed by a oral surgeon, and put them under your pillow, for one last crack at a few coins from the toothfairy!”
(some guy named Dan Whitacre)
Makes sense I guess - but I think I'm going to study it up some more.
Yikes Elizabeth! You have totally made me want to learn more about wisdom teeth! (my mom would be so proud *wry/silly grin*)
Evergreena~Dentists seem to have a knack for taking them out. . . . My sister's were pretty much perfect, with enough room and everything, but they still wanted to take them out at first!! But the dentist agreed with us once he found out that there was enough room, that they didn't need to come out.
Joraiem~Yay! I'm not the only one who thinks that! :) I don't remember what the white one's tasted like. . . I haven't had them in ages!
Libby~ Thanks for the info on what wisdom teeth are about!! :) I guess it does kind of makes sense why you would have them. . . . Though its interesting that even though people have been getting bigger through the years, our mouths are getting smaller!! Gives a great picture of people in olden days walking around with gigantic mouths!!! lol. ;)
And I am very happy to have inspired you to learn about wisdom teeth. Perhaps you shall become very "wise" on the subject. ;) (pun intended)
Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.
~ElizabethMarieKauffman~
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