Random Thoughts After Having Teeth Pulled

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of having my two top wisdom teeth taken out. Now, by "top" I don't mean they outperformed the other wisdom teeth, I mean they were the ones on my top row of teeth.

Thought I should clarify that.

In essence, it took nearly 10-15 minutes to numb the areas of my mouth and about 4 minutes total to pop out the teeth. Apparently my teeth came straight down, making them easier to pull yet the sound of root and bone crunching was not completely dissipated. I went home with gauze stuffed in my face, my tongue feeling like a wet washcloth, and promptly sat down and wondered when I'd need ibuprofen. Here are my random and somewhat senseless reflections on this joyous experience.

1. Western medicine has it's upsides - I didn't have to take a shot of whiskey or participate in any number of remedial pain relief tactics. Topical anesthesia then a needle full every four millimeters of my palate did the trick.

2. Dentists have a really difficult job - in my preparation for this procedure all I heard were horror stories of dental adventures gone completely wrong. My dentist laughed, "Weird, they never talk about the root canals that worked out well." I tip my cap to you, O baron of the bicuspids.

3. Once you're numb, anything can happen to you - when someone asks "Can you feel this?" and you reply "Can I feel what?" you are in the place of having your brain detached from the actual events going on in your mouth. I truly believe this happens to us when we cease to open our hearts to God in prayer and honestly present our challenges to Him.

Until our hearts break for Him, because of Him, and through Him we will become increasingly numb to the overall Kingdom purposes He has for us.

Until next week, peace friends.