Wisdom Teeth Blues

There comes a time in every individuals life (usually around the age of 18) when they have to make a choice. To remove their wisdom teeth or not to remove them. Usually a parent will initiate the conversation with a dentist. Sometimes we are lucky enough not to need the surgery. You may have enough room in your jaw for them to grow in. You may only have one or two of them. Or you may be among the majority of the population and have all four which need to be removed.
I had been having some troubles with my jaw, some pains and such, and someone mentioned to me that it was probably my wisdom teeth. I agreed and brought the topic up with my mother. She told me to wait until our next dentist appointment to ask the doctor. So I did. When the appointment came around the dentist took some x-rays agreed that it was time for them to come out and referred me to a dental surgeon. I talked with the surgeon, who took more x-rays and explained the complications that could happen (through a video tape) and told me to make an appointment.
My mother scheduled the appointment for the day after thanksgiving. I had been told not to eat anything for 10 hrs before the procedure, because the sedative they used tended to make patients nauseas. I knew all the things that could go wrong, I knew that the surgeon could accidentally sever the main nerve to my lower jaw. I knew that she could also damage my sinus cavity. But I was told my teeth were positioned so that I wasn’t at a risk or either of those. I knew that I was being put under through an IV (the most frightening part of the whole ordeal). However never once did they actually tell me what they were going to do. I have had oral surgery before, and I was always told exactly what was being done to my mouth. I was told about the location of incisions, the tools, everything that the doctor would be doing.
When I stepped into that room and they lay me down on that chair I began to panic from all the people doing all the things that I couldn’t identify. The nurses kindly told me about the nitrous oxide and what it was supposed to do to me, and about the strange cuff placed on my finger to monitor my heart rate. However there was no warning of the IV other than the sudden cold, wet, scrape of a sterilized piece of gauze against my arm. Even after the procedure I was not told what they had done to me, something I have come to accept as simply common courtesy. I was simply told that I would have some bruising on my lower right cheek because that tooth had been exceptionally difficult. They did not explain and my mother didn’t ask. I was to drugged up to even make the sentence before the doctor was gone. The nurse told me how to take care of the wounds and gave my mother the two bottles of pain relievers they had prescribed.
Perhaps it is just my own natural curiosity, or perhaps it is my want to know everything, but I feel I have been cheated of my own right to know what is going on with my body. I know that my wisdom teeth were removed, but the how is my question. I am going to be a librarian, why people become librarians is because they want to know as much as they can. Unfortunately I cannot turn back time to ask the doctor the questions I wanted answers to, so I bring this story to a close with this, don’t let doctors, or anyone push you around. Ask your questions, get your answers. It is your body, understand what’s happening to it.