Wisdom

About seven years ago, my dentist, Dr. Mark (he goes by first name, which is totally awesome), told me that I had the biggest wisdom teeth he'd ever seen. I must be wise. Back then, all four biggin's were still deep, hiding under the safety of my gums. Dr. Mark advised me to get them all removed, but I figured rent and skiing were more important than removing teeth that weren't an issue, so it never got done. And now, seven years later, I've got three happy wisdom teeth exposed, and one little bugger that's become problematic. From the x-ray below, it may appear quite obvious what the problem is... One would guess that the forces of the shifting lower wisdom tooth would cause pain for the teeth beside it along the lower jaw line, but that isn't the case. Herein lies the problem: the upper wisdom tooth is freshly sharp (it hasn't been exposed to gnawing too long), and is bumping into the top part of my lower wisdom tooth, and stabbing the gums still hugging the partially-exposed peak. That's what hurts - freshly stabbed gums every time I bite down. Yeeeeeouch. The good news is that I went to the dentist here in Dunedin the other day and they took that lovely x-ray, shaved off the sharpest bit of the top wisdom tooth, and cleaned out all the inaccessible food particles under the gum on the lower wisdom tooth. Yay! Pain free! And it all fell within the allowable expenses under my travel medical insurance. Super. This fix will hopefully remain a success until we return back to Canada, where I'll likely have to let a surgeon take out that crummy, sideways tooth. Other good news: Brian's article on cycling in NZ was published in Edmonton's Vue Weekly today. Click on the link below to get the electronic version.

When Cycling in New Zealand, Watch Out For Gorse, Of Course

And even better news: we unloaded 5.75 kg of not-used-frequently-enough stuff off our bikes and shipped it to Nelson, to meet us when we finish our bike tour. That's 12.7 lbs of loot! It'll feel like we're riding naked! Oooh yah!