5 Things Future Missionaries Should Know About WISDOM TOOTH REMOVAL

Pre-op Kendall

This week our daughter Kendall had her wisdom teeth removed! Another item checked off of our pre-mission to-do list! Hooray!

Here is Kendall post-op (she thinks she's smiling, but its more of a grimace), about 4 hours after having her wisdom teeth removed. She's modeling a DIY ice-pack made from tube socks. There is a link to the directions at the bottom of this post!)

I am not a dental professional, but I do have some general tips that might be helpful (based on our experiences)... You should always seek professional medical and dental advice that is applicable to your specific situation.

Here are 5 things that future LDS Missionaries should know 
about Wisdom Teeth!

#1- Not everyone needs to have their wisdom teeth removed before their mission (or at all)

Most people need to have at least one wisdom tooth removed. Some people don't have wisdom teeth - they just never get them! Or some people only get 1, or 2, or 3. It may seem strange, but wisdom teeth are kind of random. But if you are like many people, you will have 4 wisdom teeth start coming in sometime in your teens (or even as late as your 20's). Whether or not they need to be removed depends on the size of your mouth and a bunch of other factors. You won't be able to tell on your own whether or not (and when) you will need wisdom teeth removed, thats a call that is made by professionals! Check with your regular dentist to see if you are a candidate for wisdom tooth removal. An x-ray will be able to show them whats going on inside your gums and you may or may not be referred out to a specialist.


#2- Sooner is better, if possible

We (I) wanted my daughter to have her wisdom teeth removed as soon as possible, because you know
 me - I want to be prepared and we didn't want to have to hassle with it right before her mission. Several years ago she started having pain where all of her wisdom teeth are, so at the next dental appointment we asked about having them removed....they did x-rays and found out that the wisdom teeth hadn't even solidified yet - they were still "jelly". (That's some painful jelly!) They said that they couldn't remove the teeth until they solidified. She was about 16 at the time, so we had them re-check the wisdom teeth every time she went in for her regular cleanings, hoping that they would be formed. It took several years. At her most recent check-up 6 months ago, the wisdom teeth had finally formed and the referral was made...

Now, admittedly, we were planning WAY ahead for her mission, but I was still sort of stressed out about how long it was taking and what a hassle it was. I was legitimately worried at times that she would have to delay her mission because we might not be able to get the surgery done before her
(planned) availability date)...we were told that she might be able to have the surgery until summer and depending on whether they would need to do some additional procedures (because the wisdom teeth were up in the sinus cavities), there might be several months worth of follow-up appointments involved. This had the potential of delaying the date she could submit her papers by several months. 

It took 2 months to get scheduled for an initial appointment (consultation). 2 MONTHS - No, not 2 months until the appointment....2 months between when our dentist had referred us for the procedure and when we were approved to schedule the first appointment. We then waited months for the consultation appointment, and the for the pre-op appointment (the week before the surgery) and then of course she finally had the actual surgery this week.  

We had to travel to an oral surgeon in another city 1 1/2 hours each way (sometimes 3 hours each way if it was a high traffic time). So for the initial visit, pre-op visit, surgery, and the post-op visit (and thats just the basics required by this provider, assuming there aren't any complications), we did a lot of driving and we weren't given any choices for day/time, so she missed a lot of school. 

We had an unbelievably hard time getting these appointments scheduled and waited a very long time to get this procedure done, and we have excellent dental coverage through my husband's employer (a major medical/dental health insurance and care provider). Part of the problem was that they have recently changed how they handle outside referrals, and since they don't have a local provider who could handle the procedure, we had to travel and wait longer.  It took us about 6 months from when her wisdom teeth were identified as "solid enough" until the day they were taken out. And that was with us pushing to try to get it done ASAP. I am sure that not everyone will have such a hassle, but I mention all of this because it isn't always easy to just get in and get those wisdom teeth out. It took SO much longer than I thought it would to get our daughter's wisdom teeth finally taken out...I would be so stressed out if we had waited longer to start the process... We still have several months left until she can submit her mission papers, but if we had put off starting the process until closer to her availability date, it could have really caused a delay.

If you don't have dental coverage (or your insurance doesn't cover any or enough of the procedure), you may also have financial concerns about getting your wisdom teeth removed. It isn't cheap. Dental/medical offices are well aware of this problem, and they regularly offer payment plans and may even have assistance programs to help. Don't feel embarrassed if this is the case for you - like I said, most people have to get at least one wisdom tooth removed (usually more) and not everyone has dental insurance (or good dental insurance), so this is a common thing. Talk to the billing department about options that may be available for you. The best case scenario will always be having PLENTY of time to prepare (i.e., don't show up at your dentist office the day you want them to sign your mission papers and say "I don't have insurance but I need my wisdom teeth out, like today." If they have a payment plan or something like that, you will want to -and need to - plan ahead, my friend)

As always, if there is anything (such as a financial concern) that is preventing you from moving forward in serving a mission, your best resource for counsel is always your Bishop. Let him know you are having difficulties and he may have some helpful suggestions for you.

#3- You don't want to have your wisdom teeth come in during your mission - trust me

Many years ago, a certain missionary (me), got her mission papers signed by a dentist who thought that I'd probably be okay with not having my wisdom teeth taken out before I left. Whew! Great news! Except that my wisdom teeth started coming in (with a vengeance) while I was in my 4th area (I think about 10-11 months into my mission). I ended up needing to have them removed during my mission. My companions (I had two at the time) and I missed a lot of days of work and I was in pain for a long time (before and after). Looking back now, I'm surprised that I wasn't sent home because of this. This is why they want your wisdom teeth out before you go. You work so hard and sacrifice so much to get out there in the field, you don't want anything messing it up if you can prevent it by taking care of things like this ahead of time. Missing days of work doesn't just affect you, it affects your companions, your investigators, and the ward/branch where you are serving.

This is one of my mission companions and I (I'm on the right), a few days after having my wisdom teeth removed

#4- It's usually not that big of a deal

It's a hassle to have wisdom teeth taken out, whether you have some sort of a local anesthetic (like I did) or you have to be fully sedated (like my daughter was). My daughter was very nervous about the surgery, but she was joking in the pre-op room and woke up in the post-op wondering if they had done the surgery yet. You're out of it for the surgery (to various degrees), and you don't do anything but lie there. It's the after-care that is sort of a hassle (endless rounds of gauze-changing, rinsing, various medications (Kendall has 5 different kinds of prescriptions on different schedules), icing your face for certain intervals, sitting upright for a certain number of days, etc. But you're soon over it and you'll back to normal-ish in a couple of days. It can take longer, depending on what procedures are done and whether or not you have any complications (like dry-socket) afterward.

Kendall had a more extensive than normal procedure, so it was about 6 days before she was able to function semi-normally (could pass for back to normal, swelling about 50% gone and able to go to school but still couldn't drive because of the pain meds) and then finally about 9 days after the surgery she was totally back to herself - swelling mostly gone, off the pain meds, and able to drive herself to school, etc.

#5- Take it as an opportunity to practice being a missionary

As I mentioned before, a certain full-time missionary (me) got her wisdom teeth removed during her mission, so she went into the procedure literally wearing her name tag. I vividly remember the nurse that was inserting the IV asking me about what missionaries do (clearly just trying to distract me from the IV situation, but I was not going to let that opportunity pass me by!). My mouth was already numb, but I proceeded to enthusiastically explain exactly what missionaries do - including what I'm sure was a very garbled but heart-felt re-telling of Joseph Smith's first vision. The next thing I remember was my companions were trying to escort me out into the waiting room and then out to our car. I was very upset by this, because even though the procedure was over, I seemed to think that they hadn't done the procedure yet! As they tried to guide me down the hallway, I kept trying to swat their arms away and tried to refuse to leave. Come on guys- I was right in the middle of teaching a first discussion!!! LOL

You don't have to be a full-time missionary to use getting your wisdom teeth out as an opportunity to gain some missionary skills. Getting your wisdom teeth out (or any other dental or medical procedure)  helps you gain 2 skills that you will NEED for your full-time mission: #1- Doing things you don't want to do. This is TOPS for mission prep, in my book! You are going to have to do things you don't want to do as a missionary (such as talking to someone who is super intimidating, being in awkward situations, having awkward conversations with people, eating foods you don't want to, keeping up a positive attitude even when people are being mean to you, dealing with members who aren't doing things the way you think they should, dealing with companions or other missionaries who aren't following the rules, etc etc etc).  It could be any of those things or a million other things, you will have to deal with things you don't want to deal with. It's part of missionary work. And you will need to get used to that. So consider this practice. If you need to get your wisdom teeth out, just "man up" and do it....AND #2- Taking responsibility for yourself. Get the medical/dental care that you need. Make sure that you are prepared for the post-op stuff (you have jello and applesauce and ice-packs) and follow the doctor's orders. Of course your parents or roommates can help you out as needed, thats great, but be pro-active about making sure that everything is taken care of ahead of time. Be as self-reliant as you can in your situation. It's part of becoming an adult.

Here is that double-ice pack photo again! 

TIPS THAT CAN HELP YOU FEEL BETTER AFTERWARD:
If you end up needing to have your wisdom teeth removed, you may need to ice your face for a certain period of time (follow your dentist's instructions for how long). If so, here is something that might help - we made 2 of these double ice-packs (as seen on Kendall above). Click below to link to the website with directions. We made 2 because we could keep one ready in the freezer while the other was being used. You can open it up and replace the ice-packs in the same socks with cold packs, but that seemed like a lot more work than just making two complete sets of them and rotating the whole things in and out of the freezer...

Click here to link to the directions for making these double ice packs

In general, you don't want to drink anything with a straw for a while and you won't really be able to chew for a while, even after you fell better. (Even after 12 days, Kendall can still only chew very soft foods like chicken salad and well-cooked pasta). Kendall was also told not to eat anything cold or hot/warm for the first few days (everything had to be room temp). You might get different instructions for your situation. You will definitely want to follow your doctor's instructions re: when you can start eating certain foods, but if you need some ideas for foods that you may be able to eat after your surgery, here is a list that we came up with:

It might seem fun to eat jello and ice cream all the time, but both Kendall and I noticed that we got really tired of eating only sweets after the first day or so, so be sure that you have lots of savory options available to eat. When you're on an all jello & applesauce diet, it starts to sort of feel like you can't eat anything "real" because you can't chew and everything is really sweet. For Kendall, she was really craving meat after a week, but still couldn't eat much, so savory things like mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and refried beans were favorites (after the first few days).

Best of luck to you!