That reminds me, I have to call my dentist and make an appointment. It's gotta be about two years since my last one. Have to find out first if he's still practising, though: per the State Office of the Professions website he's been licensed since 1952. I have no idea how old he is except that he's my grandfather's contemporary, and my grandfather died a few years ago at 96... he's still a great dentist, or was as of my last appointment, and he knows me since 1973 and is willing to put up with my needle-phobia. (Rather get drilled on without novocaine than take the needle. Yes, it's illogical.)
As to the OP, I agree that they must be getting desperate, if they're going through 3-year-old records to find people to come in.
As far as wisdom teeth... I had one pulled. It was coming in sideways, and stuck behind the next tooth over as well, and it kept getting infected. Dentist was reluctant to pull it until it came all the way in, and I kept insisting it never would. Finally he was on vacation and I went to his dentist, who agreed that it was time to pull it, once the latest infection went away.
Another failed to develop altogether. (Dentist looks at my Xrays once and asked when I had that one pulled; I told him, "Don't you think you'd know about it if I had?") One's still buried somewhere in my jaw, and the fourth seems to have grown in normally, although it took another 20 years from that point until the gum above it finally opened up enough to let it see the world. When I had the other pulled, I asked the oral surgeon if that one should be extracted as well, and his opinion was that as long as there was still at least a part of another tooth above it to bang against, there wasn't any reason to pull it. So I still have one out of four.
My brother went to study in Israel for a couple years, and had his wisdom teeth out there. The oral surgeon in Jerusalem that everyone went to had a rather unfortunate name: Dr Schochet. (This means "slaughterer" in Hebrew... not the best name for a surgeon of any specialization...)
As to the OP, I agree that they must be getting desperate, if they're going through 3-year-old records to find people to come in.
As far as wisdom teeth... I had one pulled. It was coming in sideways, and stuck behind the next tooth over as well, and it kept getting infected. Dentist was reluctant to pull it until it came all the way in, and I kept insisting it never would. Finally he was on vacation and I went to his dentist, who agreed that it was time to pull it, once the latest infection went away.
Another failed to develop altogether. (Dentist looks at my Xrays once and asked when I had that one pulled; I told him, "Don't you think you'd know about it if I had?") One's still buried somewhere in my jaw, and the fourth seems to have grown in normally, although it took another 20 years from that point until the gum above it finally opened up enough to let it see the world. When I had the other pulled, I asked the oral surgeon if that one should be extracted as well, and his opinion was that as long as there was still at least a part of another tooth above it to bang against, there wasn't any reason to pull it. So I still have one out of four.
My brother went to study in Israel for a couple years, and had his wisdom teeth out there. The oral surgeon in Jerusalem that everyone went to had a rather unfortunate name: Dr Schochet. (This means "slaughterer" in Hebrew... not the best name for a surgeon of any specialization...)
Comment