third molar

...is out.

about two and a half years ago, had a molar pulled from my upper left jaw. since i elected (budget considerations) not to fill the void resulting from the extraction, it meant that the second and third molar were now free to move forward into the gap.

didn't think too much on this fact (bad idea, ultimately) until at some time in the past (don't remember precisely when), i was eating some lapid's chicharon (cracklings?) and bit down hard on a chunk thereof...

...and felt a cracking as a piece of the stuff got wedged in the gap between the 2nd and 3rd molar. ouch.

since then, it's been giving me grief on and off, which i duly numb into submission by judicious doses of mefenamic acid...

but earlier this week, me and a couple of friends were dining (hah!) al fresco at the local donut joint and i espied across the street the unusually-named 1770 dental clinic. granted, i pass by it everyday going to work, but it doesn't really register. hmm. so, while waiting for my order to arrive, i risked a quick visit and inquiry, and before i knew it, i was scheduled for an extraction today.

again, the local anesthetic prior to the three-prick syringe-delivered anesthetic. inasmuch as the tooth was already loose, there wasn't too much of the sense that the dentist was wrenching too hard - she was just twisting the, what, pliers(?) one way and the other, and then the tooth was out.

not bad at all.

interestingly enough, the molar had only one root. she noted that 3rd molars are typically problematic, and the one root effect may simply be that the two roots had fused.

another interesting fact: her birthday is right after mine.

hmm...