That tooth in full . . .

[zotz]

So for the benefit of anyone who was curious about the state of my damaged little growth . . .

The gallery of 3 pictures is here.

Enjoy.

In other news, Nick's team just filed in and gave me a birthday card and a box of chocolates (presumably so I can enjoy more dental visits Real Soon. What nice people. It's a lovely photo on the card, too.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

Wow :)

The wisdom tooth I had out a few months ago was a text-book extraction, and thus not nearly as exciting about its roots. I asked to keep it all the same - and they insisted in putting it in a little paper envelope with fairies on. They seemed quite surprised at the idea of someone past tooth-fairy-age wanting to take their extracted teeth home.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

I only had three wisdom teeth come in (the only items in my mouth to emerge without issues, by the way), so I had no choice but to have one (upper left) taken out in 1987. Thankfully, my dentist was so wonderfully strange that he'd hum tunes from Little Shop of Horrors under his breath while drilling, so he didn't consider my request to keep that tooth strange in the slightest. I still have it in my office, complete with the small chunk of maxilla that came free in the process. (Now, when I went in for shoulder surgery a decade ago and asked the doctor if I could have the chunk of clavicle he was sawing off, then I got some looks.)

[venta.livejournal.com]

I only had three wisdom teeth come in ..., so I had no choice but to have one... taken out in 1987.

How does that work, then ? Having had one wisdom tooth out, I'm now down to three, and wasn't aware that was particularly perilous.

The one that's left on that side, though, is increasingly mutant and looks on the surface a bit like two teeth stuck together. I await developments with interest :)

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

Well, in my case, it wasn't actually perilous unless I was eating nuts or chunky peanut butter. In that situation, a good chunk of nut would always manage to jam itself into the cusp of that tooth, causing that chunk to slam into exposed gum tissue every time I bit down. Not only was that causing issues for the exposed gum, but it had the potential of all sorts of nasty complications without a counteracting tooth to keep it in place, so it made sense to pull it.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, my dentist was so wonderfully strange that he'd hum tunes from Little Shop of Horrors under his breath while drilling

*rolls about laughing* oh rock and roll! He sounds very cool indeed :)

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

At the time, he and I were both tropical fish junkies (he had two archerfish in his office waiting room that used to spit in his eye every time he opened the tank lid), and I'm certain that he would have kvelled over my carnivorous plant collection. Sadly, he died in 1992 in a car crash, so I'll never find out.

[shaunotd.livejournal.com]

he'd hum tunes from Little Shop of Horrors under his breath while drilling

Nice! msavigear's dentist is apparently a tall, spindly, white-haired, affable Swedishman. When there are children in the waiting room, when he tends to hunch, rub his hands together & cackle...

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Lovely ;)

Re: other thread - you could seal it in some kind of acrylic stuff... that might stop it rotting, without having to clean it?

[zotz]

Also an option, yes. Cheers.

[scy11a.livejournal.com]

The only one of mine to emerge was extracted in little pieces, and, as I nearly passed out, I was in no state to ask for souvenirs! One is absent and the other two are lurking beneatht eh gums somewhere.

Yours does look like it was really spectacularly painful, mind.

[zotz]

It wasn't actually. Even though the rear crown looks like it's entirely gone, it hadn't reached the nerve. It was giving me no trouble at all. It would have in due course, though, hence the extraction. The dentist took one look and knew it was a dead loss.

POssibly related to the funny root, it came through with something odd on the outer side. It felt like the enamel hadn't formed properly and there was a groovy that was difficult to clean. It just gradually eroded there until the crown was completely undermined. Then a couple of years back it just crumbled. There was no pain at any stage, though, and the extraction was (although interesting) painless.

[shaunotd.livejournal.com]

there was a groovy [sic] that was difficult to clean. It just gradually eroded there until the crown was completely undermined. Then [..] it just crumbled.

Hmm...exactly my experience of wisdom teeth...one was extracted about 10 years back as the sharp edges were carving my tongue up, two more have collapsed, & the fourth is at the odd groove stage.
Plus there's the molar I shattered with my tongue stud during my 1st grand-mal...which was a bit iffy to bite on until the detached shards of enamel worked their way free.
I suppose I should get them all yanked when I get the chance...*sigh*

[zotz]

Well, at least have something done before they start causing trouble. They won't necessarily all need pulled.

[shaunotd.livejournal.com]

There is much wisdom this...I shall hunt for an nhs dentist when I get back to Hull...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Wow, lucky you getting it all in once piece to look at and everything. I had seven(!) wisdom teeth extracted, and they had to drill smallish holes in my jaw and then break up the teeth inside that and extract them in pieces. Otherwise it would have severly weakened my jaw even more than it did... I was warned not to chew ice or eat jawbreakers or anything for 3 months afterward. Not like I was on solid food for another week anyway, but if I had decided to go on a rock-munching binge, I could have SNAPPED MY JAW RIGHT OFF!!

[zotz]

Apparently mine wasn't all that far off becoming a hospital outpatient job. It came out OK, though.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

That's a monster. Did it used to sneak off and engulf small cities while you weren't looking?

[zotz]

I don't know. I wasn't looking.

Have many cities been engulfed by highly-eroded wisdom treeth lately?

[tephramancy.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell - that thing looks like it should have it's own government!

[zotz]

It's smaller than it looks. That's a perfectly normal-sized toothbrush.

[tephramancy.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't say it *was* big enough to have it's own government ;)

[zotz]

It's actually hardly any bigger than Leichtenstein, so obviously the idea of self-government is ridiculous.

[http://users.livejournal.com/puzzle_/]

Geez no wonder you were in pain.

[zotz]

Not from that I wasn't. The painful one was on the other side. It wasn't close to the nerve.

It would have been painful in time, of course.

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

That was impressive!