Maybe They Just Aren't Meant To Come Out

Let me tell you about the saga that is my wisdom teeth, and their "removal".

All little over two years ago, I had been told by the dentist in Germany that my wisdom teeth needed to come out. Two have cavities (they're hard to reach), one is growing out of my cheek instead of straight out of the gum, and if you're gonig for three, might as well go for all four before my mouth desides there isn't room for them all and my teeth start shifting. "Fine." I said. "Let's do it." So we made an appointment.

And then I found out I was pregnant with Deacon. Appointment cancelled. Bummer. These things cause me serious pain at times. Not that it's unbearable or constant or anything. Just annoying every once in a while. Like when I eat super sweet treats. Or when a small piece of popcorn gets lodged back there under the gum somehow.

So, I have Deacon. I finish breastfeeding Deacon. I call the dental clinic on post to remake the appointment (mind you, this is a good year or so later), only to be told that they were currently NOT making appointments for family members and to call back around April when they should be seeing family members again. Okay. I call back in April. I am told they still aren't seeing family members and to try again next month. Ooookay. I call in May, and am told that I can either call back next month when they should be seeing family members again, OR I can go in every day as a standby patient, and if someone cancels or doesn't show up, I can then have their appointment. Right. Like I'm going to go down to the dental clinic, every day, waiting for an open appointment to just appear. And what am I supposed to do with my kids EVERY DAY while I sit there twiddling my thumbs, hoping someone won't show up for their dental appointment?

So, I call again in June. Do you want to guess what they told me? They still weren't seeing family members and had no immediate plans to start doing so! At least this time I was told that I could be referred to a German dentist, on the economy, if I wanted to go into the dental clinic on post and get the required paperwork (which would also mean a visit to TriCare - and I don't want to get started on that). Why couldn't someone have offered that to me months ago when I started the phone calling process? By now, it was too late to go through all of that because we would be moving in July, and I would have to make an appointment for x-rays and a cleaning before I could even get an appointment for wisdom tooth extraction. Sigh. So I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait until I got to Oklahoma to get these stinkin teeth removed.

Of course, the dental clinic here doesn't see family members and we had to apply for and wait for dental insurance. Now that that's been taken care of, I started calling dentist around here, trying to get an appointment for a cleaning and x-rays so I could get a referral to an oral surgeon to have the wisdom teeth taken out. Can you even believe that they are ALL booked through until the middle of February?!? Which, if you remember, is when we will be moving to Alaska. (Oh, Fort Richardson, outside of Anchorage, for those of you who asked more specifics.) Double sigh.

Now I'm putting it off again. I am, however, thinking about checking out how dental works in Alaska. And I think I might call now to see if I can't get an appointment for after we get out there. Of course, I'll make an appointment, only to get to that date and time and not have a house, car, friend who can watch my kids, and/or any-idea-where-to-go-and-wind-up-being-uber-late-thus-meaning-I-won't-be-seen-and-have-to-make-a-new-appointment-four-months-from-then.

On the other hand, I called to make dental appointments for the boys today, thinking we'd run into the same thing, expecting the receptionist to tell me January would be the earliest they can be seen. Not so much. They have appointments for 10:30 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning. Not only did they have an opening for tomorrow, but they had FOUR openings for tomorrow. How does that happen?!? And I bet you all know what I'll be posting about tomorrow now. Until then...