Wisdom teeth and ‘I told you so’: The day of reckoning has come

t quite literally pains me to say that Dr. Rush was right. As many of you know I’ve been fighting an ongoing battle with my dentist, Dr. Rush, for many years.

He has always encouraged me to have my wisdom teeth removed and I’ve always had reasons for putting it off.

But recently the situation has gotten to where I can no longer avoid the surgery and I’m going to have to go through with it. And what’s worse, I have to admit publicly that Dr. Rush was, in fact, right all along.

Some readers of my column will remember that for years now Dr. Rush and I have had this ongoing charade where he tells me I need to have my wisdom teeth removed and I tell him I’ll do it and he pretends to believe me.

There are some very good reasons why I don’t want to undergo the procedure.

First of all, the pain isn’t really an issue. I know I’ll be heavily sedated and probably won’t feel anything. However, let that not blind y’all to the fact that someone will be slicing open my gums and forcibly extracting teeth that the good Lord put there for a reason.

BUT it’s the recovery time that bothers me more than the actual surgery. I’ve been told I should plan to do nothing for a couple days after the surgery since I’ll be on strong painkillers and rest will help the healing process.

I HATE inactivity. I want to go to work and be active. I don’t want to lay in bed for a couple days because my face is swollen and I’m on all sorts of powerful drugs.

The second and more pressing concern is that I don’t want to end up on the Internet because someone took a video of me while I was drugged up and saying all sorts of ridiculous and embarrassing things. I guarantee the video will be of me weeping uncontrollably for some stupid reason and I’ll never ever live it down.

So you can see why I would be hesitant to undergo this procedure.

Well lo and behold a few days ago I had to go to Dr. Rush’s office because I was in pain and I knew it was my wisdom teeth. I walked in there and told them what the problem was but that I’d only agree to see Dr. Rush if he did NOT say “I told you so.”

I made them prep him for my visit by promising he would not gloat.

He came in to the room where I was waiting and to his credit he did NOT say “I told you so” but I could tell from the smirk on his face that he was thinking it and I was mad as hell.

We (HE) came to the decision that I needed to have all four wisdom teeth removed as soon as possible. Since Dr. Rush doesn’t do that procedure they asked if I had a preference in an oral surgeon and I told them that I’ve heard that Dr. John Beninato is one of the best.

So I have my consult with Dr. Beninato today. Please pray that I don’t chicken out and wait another 10 years before having this procedure done. I was sort of hoping that by the time it became ABSOLUTELY necessary to do it, that medical science would have advanced to where I could just take a pill that would dissolve my wisdom teeth. Clearly that’s not the case. I think the worst part about this whole ordeal (so far) is having to admit Dr. Rush was right all along. He’s been telling me for years that I needed to have this procedure done but I was too stubborn to listen.

Since I’m sure I’m not the only person dealing with wisdom teeth issues, I’ll keep y’all posted on how the procedure goes. Either that or you’ll see it in the newspaper where I was running down Turner McCall Boulevard naked with a swollen jaw because I was not in my right mind from all the drugs they gave me.

Only time will tell. SEVERO AVILA Jim Powell of Young Harris