Saturday 9th September

Firstly I didn’t realise that I had much wisdom at all – though this blog purports to express opinion as some sort of Wisdom.  A few weeks ago a tooth broke.  I think it was already broken anyway and another bit chipped off.  Anyway raggedy edge or not I ignored it (as you do) thinking that as I had no pain there was no gain to be had from going a la dentist.  Sooner or later I did have some pain, but not directly from that tooth.  In fact I had an abcess on a different tooth, so off to Madame Brun I went.  She gave me a prescription for the abcess and proceeded to look at the broken tooth.  She X-rayed it and soon discovered that in fact the base of that tooth (a Wisdom) was infected and she suspected that two semi-buried stumps on the other side were also probably infected too.

I was sent for a panoramic x-ray in Bergerac and an appointment with a Dental Surgeon too.  Well, yes indeed my lower Wisdom teeth, or what remained of them were infected and would have to be removed.

I turned up on Thursday afternoon, slightly worried, but realising that I had no real choice.  The actual extraction, under local anaesthetic took about thirty minutes and the stitching about the same time.  I was sent home with strict instructions about what and when to eat and oral hygiene and anti-biotics and painkillers.

Well, as we all know it isn’t when you fall it hurts – only when you land.  And so too with Dentistry.  I felt no pain during the procedure though I did keep my eyes shut – I really didn’t want to see the size of the industrial drills and wrenches and pliers he was using.  But of course as the anaesthetic wore off the pain wore on.

Thursday night was pretty bad, exacerbated by the sorest of sore throats.  Every swallow was like razor blades.  Not sure how I slept the first night.  Friday was a bit better, the sore throat had improved but I had a monster of a headache. So far no real pain from the gums but a dull ache as if I had had a sock in the jaw from a horse or an angry husband (hahaha).

So, a bit of an invalid am I today.  Slowly getting better.  I still have another less problematic tooth to be extracted in a month’s time.  Like the hero you would expect me to be I opted for the worst side of my mouth first – the two half submerged teeth.  The dentist assures me that next time will be easier.  With two thirds less wisdom I have believed him.  So expect less wisdom for a month from me and after the second extraction none at all….