10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About Having A Wisdom Tooth Removed

1. Kicking The Can Down The Road

I think I knew that I should have had my wisdom tooth removed a long time ago. Two years ago the nice dentist in Midleton tried to repair it, unfortunately the repair was more pothole filling than permanent resurfacing and after two years it was in a bad way. Lumpy and pointy with a big hole in the middle. After much practice I managed to take photos of it using my iPhone camera which confirmed what my tongue could feel.

2. Not Now

I think that it’s best to get your dentistry work done in the week or so after a marathon. I was a bit worried when the week before Cork my right upper wisdom tooth started to throb. I knew that if I went to the dentist it was all over for the marathon so I gritted my teeth and made an appointment for the Tuesday after the marathon.

3. Hen’s Teeth

I didn’t think that it would be so hard to find a dentist to see with a weeks notice. My usual dentist in Midleton was totally full, three weeks for an appointment unless it was an emergency. Little Island had nothing either. I didn’t think dentists were so rare, I thought everyone hates going, appears not. Perhaps it’s just a handy excuse to get off work.

4. Someone Someelse Trusts

I think it’s always a good idea to go to someone that someelse trusts. My sister is petrified of the dentist after orthodontic work so any dentist she would go to had to be gentle and good. Appointment sorted, all I had to do was get the marathon out of the way which I did with no real trouble from the tooth just a subtle throbbing now and then.

5. Give Up Your Auld Teeth

I think that I knew that the dentist was going to tell me that the tooth was going to have to say bye bye. She did an X-ray which showed that it was fully up and quite easy to take out. I still wasn’t sure that I wanted to have it removed so I asked everyone I knew who was a dentist and they all agreed that it had to go. I took more photos with my phone to make sure it was bad, I was getting quite good at the photos by the end, you have to use the timer on the camera or a mirror. It’s tricky but fun and people love looking at the photos, I think.

6. The Ballylanders Dentist

I think my fear of the dentist should be much worse. I used to be terrified of the dentist. It was all down to my earliest experiences of dentistry in a Portacabin in Ballylanders when I was in primary school. He was a very scary fat dentist who’d get cross at you if you spoke or even attempted to say that it might be a bit sore. He used to have two liter bottles of coke in the cabin with him so he clearly wasn’t listening to his own advice. Then I got braces in secondary school which kind of cured my fear. The orthodontist was in Limerick during the boom so it was lovely with classical music playing in the background. Very pleasant. It used to hurt afterwards but going to the orthodontist was always pleasant. Ever since I’ve been fine.

7. LA Confidential

I think that you should always lie about the local anesthetic, my sister had advised me to be sedated but I asked the dentist and she’s said I’d be fine so I trusted her. When the day came I arrived at 1030 and walked straight into the chair, the best way, if it were done it were best it were done quickly with no time in the waiting room looking through Instagram. She started putting in the local anesthetic straight away which was lovely, it was the only slightly painful bit with the pinch of the needle. Then she poked around the tooth and asked if it hurt, I said it did even though it didn’t just so I could have some more local anesthetic. It worked I could feel nothing.

8. The Sound That Your Wisdom Tooth Makes

I think that the best and worst part of having a wisdom tooth removed is the sound that it makes when it is coming out. It’s kind of cool, it makes a sort of tearing crunching sound and then you see the flash of the tooth leaving your mouth. I didn’t feel a thing, I had to ask if it was all over. I felt nothing, no pain, very pleasant, an excellent experience.

9. Pulling Teeth

I think that the training course that I had to go back to was more painful than having my wisdom tooth pulled. Thankfully I got some solpadol for pain when I was leaving the dentist so I took two of them before going back to the course for the rest of the day. Solpadol makes everything better, even Yellow Belt training courses, perhaps I could get some solpadol for all the courses and become a Black Belt.

10. Let’s Run

I think that it might not have been the best idea to go running that evening but I couldn’t resist. I asked the dentist but she said no, I knew she would because I’d have told someone the same thing. Instead I consulted the oracle of truth that is the Let’s Run message board. My only concern was dying or perhaps the dreaded “dry socket”. The lunatics on Let’s Run had gotten away with running after having four removed so I decided it was fine. 8.5 miles later and I knew I’d made the right decision. No death, no bleeding, no pain and a run done.