How Experts123 Helped Me: Wisdom Teeth

We recently got this letter from one of our users about how Experts123 helped her cope with her oral surgery. Here is what she wrote:

Dear Experts123,

I had always dreaded getting my wisdom teeth pulled. I had heard of horror stories of people having infected gums and permanently swollen cheeks and infections for days. I had just started a new job didn't have time to be completely debilitated, so I decided that I had to look up best and worst case scenarios just to put my mind at ease and prepare myself (and my boss) for what was going to be in store.

Here were the justifications for my fear:
My dentist had originally said that I had enough room in my mouth to keep my three wisdom teeth—but then decided that I had to get the surgery. Was my mouth shrinking? Why the sudden change of heart? Maybe this was a scam…

My dentist would not use anesthetics to put me under while he was operating—meaning that I would be awake. I had flashbacks to that one mediocre Hayden Christensen movie where the doctors thought they gave him enough anesthetic, but he was awake the whole time, felt everything, and heard the doctors plotting his death. Great.

Finally, why do I have 3 wisdom teeth? That’s an odd number. I’ve heard of people having 2 or maybe 4, but never 3. Was I a mutant?

So, since I had been active on Experts123 recently, I decided to look up my information there. I knew that if it wasn’t already posted, I could ask a question and someone would answer it relatively quickly.

I searched “wisdom teeth.” The first 3 questions that came up were:

What are wisdom teeth?
Why do wisdom teeth need to be removed?
When is the best time to remove wisdom teeth?

Perfect. So I scrolled through each of these—the first gave me a background about wisdom teeth. Did you know that Wisdom teeth got their name because they were meant to grow in when you turn 18—when we are supposedly wiser? There also is no set number of wisdom teeth. The amount of teeth depends on the person. Some people had stories of having one and some of having seven.

The second question was smooth sailing—my dentist was right and didn’t want to just make a quick buck (or $400) from me. It was time to get them pulled because it was messing up my bite, and I wouldn’t be able to reach them with a toothbrush.

But the third question gave me a fright—it said that people should only get their wisdom teeth pulled when the tooth roots are three-quarters developed to avoid nerve damage. Well, my three wisdom teeth were all completely grown in—and I’m almost 22, two years older than the upper age limit they recommend.

Hoping I would be a fast healer, I looked up wisdom teeth complications. Great—I was at risk for nerve damage, cysts, tumors, gum and jaw disease, and plaque build-up.

Well, I researched some more. It said that these complications only occur if you neglect the dentist’s care recommendations. As long as I paid attention to my doctor’s orders, I would be fine. Although it is a routine surgery, it was my first one! I was still anxious, but less so because of the information I found on Experts123.

Luckily, I was a fast healer, and looking back, I had nothing to be afraid of. My jaw as a little sore when I couldn’t be on the pain meds, but I healed in less than a week!

Thanks to Experts123, I was able to know what could have happened to me from the perspectives of real people with real experience, not just some encyclopedia-robot. I went into the surgery with ease now can share my experiences on Experts123 and put other peoples’ minds at ease, too.

Sincerely,
Recently Toothless

At Experts123 we love hearing stories about how our online community of experts helped each other out.

If you ever want to share your stories about how Experts123 helped you, email us at customerservice@experts123.com, and we will share it!

Remember to keep on participating on Experts123.com to keep entering to win a free Apple iPad and check us out on Twitter for up to the minute news and links.