Does the Tooth Fairy still visit us old people?

I'm starting to feel my age.

A week ago, I took my first 'sick day' from work for over a year because of a toothache.  It wasn't a little toothache, it was the toothache from hell.  You know when you see those cartoons of people or anthropromorphic animals with handkerchiefs tied around their heads because their jaws are swollen because of a toothache?  Yep... I had that kind of a toothache with a swollen jaw and everything.  So I took some swell drugs from a left-over prescription, saw a dentist and... well, I think I said something about the rest.

This morning, I went to see an oral surgeon about having the three offending teeth pulled to make room for some sort or another of dental work.

He told me that I get a bonus.  Two more teeth have to come out.  Wisdom teeth, left over from when I had my wisdom teeth pulled when I was a teenager.

I was hoping that nothing would be said about the two additional molars at the back of my mouth.  They have been sitting there, quietly, not bothering anyone for over 40 years.  Roscoe pulled the bottom two out, saving the top two for later in life.

I liked Roscoe, Roscoe was pretty good for an oral surgeon in a small town.  Roscoe lived just up the street from us for a while before he moved into the house next to my buddy Dave's.  Dave and Roscoe had an ongoing feud... Dave liked to work on cars, usually running them without mufflers... Roscoe wanted peace and quiet.

I found out recently that Roscoe has gone to his reward without having touched the other two wisdom teeth. Other dentists have noted the additional teeth and have mentioned that they needed to be extracted... even suggesting "Oochy" as the man to do it.  "Oochy" was another oral surgeon... another nice guy who eventually moved out of town to practice in Columbus.

The wisdom teeth have remained in place.

That changes on Friday.

The phrase "I'd rather have teeth pulled than to..." doesn't apply when one is having his teeth pulled.  I look forward to it in much the same way as I would look forward to having my still-beating heart yanked out of me.  The only saving grace would be if there was still a tooth fairy around for us on the high side of 29.  I mean, it would be nice to have some cash underneath my pillow when I wake up at the surgeon's office on Friday... It would be nice to know that I still have some of my youth left.

Be Seeing You?

bdharrell