What Wisdom Tooth Extraction Taught Me About Wisdom
We all have them, don’t we?
These pesky molars that add up to 4 in a full set of adult teeth.
Recently, I discovered that an impacted wisdom tooth was causing a painful nerve and infected gums. So, armed with much courage I headed to the most convenient dentist and had an extraction done.
The whole process lasted a little less than an hour but I couldn’t help come out of the clinic a whole lot wiser.
What did it teach me exactly?
One of the main things is that people are adversely affected by a loss of sensation. The loss of appetite that appeared due to the pain and soreness reminded me of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, that we all need food and drink for basic survival.
Nonetheless, the liquid diet that I have been having for the past two days, i.e. plain congee, yogurt, ice cream reminded me of the spiritual fasting that takes place during Lent — the idea that abstaining from food temporarily will result in a clearer mind and is good for our health.
Another thing it taught me is that pain thresholds differ for each person bsaed on gender. Popular scientific research has revealed that women tend to have a greater pain threshold than men (think menstrual cycles, labour in childbirth) and reminded me that I could endure the pain. Of course, that being said, anesthesia had a huge factor to play in the success of the surgery!
Just some nuggets of wisdom for you to chew on.
