Loss Of Wisdom

It is so strange the things that you let hold you back when you are overweight. One of the biggest (and more painful) issues for me was my teeth. I knew I had a lot of cavities that needed filling and I knew I needed my wisdom teeth out, but I just didn't have the confidence to go to the dentist to get my teeth fixed.

Unless you have been obese it might be hard to understand why going to the dentist would be a fat phobia, but I was scared of so many things. The judgement from the dentist that I was so fat and clearly didn't eat well and getting my heavy body onto and off the examination were just a couple of things that terrified me.

I am ashamed to say that, until recently, I had only been to the dentist twice in my life. Dental care in Australia is very expensive and so it wasn't something my family could afford growing up and as I got older (and fatter) my fear of the dentist intensified and I managed to avoid going despite the fact I could only eat on one side of mouth for years.

Late last year I finally decided it was time to get my teeth sorted and so mustered all my courage and visited the dentist for the first time in many years and started the long and expensive process of getting my teeth fixed. I needed 6 cavities filled and a broken tooth fixed. The funny thing is that the dentist showed me that my fears were valid when she berated me for eating so many sweets to need so many fillings and made me feel like a glutton. Even though I was no longer obese, I was still humiliated!

The next step was getting x-rays on my wisdom teeth and the dentist confirming that I needed all 4 wisdom teeth out as soon as possible. So yesterday I went into hospital to have my 4 wisdom teeth extracted. I really wasn't very nervous about the procedure, just excited to have them pulled out finally. Over the past 6-7 years they had caused me a tremendous amount of pain with infections and abscesses, so it was just a relief to know that I wouldn't have to deal with that anymore.

The surgery went well and the hospital staff were all amazing and now I am resting up in bed on some lovely strong pain killers with a week off work to recover. The most painful thing right now is the $3,500 out of pocket expenses- ouch! Obviously I am hoping that the liquid diet I am on all week will give me a nice weight loss boost before summer... I just need to cut back on the custard and ice cream...