For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 19, 2024

If you are pronouncing words, what is the difference between “wisdom” and “wiz-dum”?

Finally, Mike has his surgery!

I wonder what kind of “surgery” is used to extract teeth. Do they use an anesthetic?

Michael is probably listening to a record of Elvis singing “Blue Christmas”.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I never had the buds for them.

Oh, poor Michael! I remember a friend of mine having all 4 wisdom teeth out at the same time and she was in such pain! But getting them all out at once is a blessing, you only have to go through this agony once!

When I had mine out, many many years ago in the UK, they used very powerful local anesthetic. I could feel the pulling and hear the cracking but I felt no pain. I then took the train home on my own (which was not wise!)

From Lynn’s Comments: When my granddaughter was losing her baby teeth, it was apparent that inflation has happened in the fairy world, too. A tooth under the pillow is now worth 5 bucks!

“Cousin Oliver” strikes again..

I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed when I was Michael’s age. It was a visit to the hospital under general anesthesia. Glad I had them all done at once, but little did I know how many root canals were in my future!

Mine were impacted. My face was swollen and bruised.

Four bucks? When I was a kid, we got a quarter. That’s inflation for you.

An enterprising kid would go to dentists for the teeth they pulled and given them a cut.

Got to love April!

With the surgery and breakup with Rhetta, Michael feels lower than a loonie.

I think it was a quarter a tooth back when I was a kid.

All four? Whew, that was tough, even on a young guy like Mike.

And Michael just lost 4 bucks!

Seems like you’d get more dough for wiz-dum teef

Michael puking in Three………….Two…………..One…………….BARFFFFFF!

All of my friends that had all four of their wisdom teeth extracted at the same time ended up barfing from the blood they swallowed. Mine were done two weeks apart because on of my wisdom teeth was impacted in the bone and I never got sick once.

Your child’s primary teeth typically fall out between the ages of 6 and 12 years old. How does 4-year-old April know the going rate?

I still have mine in a little box with my mineral collection

I still have one of my wisdom teeth. The rest were taken out with local anesthesia when they developed cavities. The one left is impacted, the dentist said if it wasn’t bothering me, to just leave it alone.

Something puzzles me. If Michael ‘JUST’ had his 4 wisdom teeth out, meaning maybe ten or fifteen minutes before, and by the artwork they appear at home instead of in a hospital room, and assuming that the Doctor isn’t named Dad or John, that means the Doctor paid a housecall for the surgery. That might have happened back in the year 1895, but not likely in 1995. Also if the surgery happened at home and the Doctor threw the teeth out, wouldn’t they still be found in the trash can? I doubt very much that the Doctor himself carried the trash out himself to the curb, and the trash collector just happened to pick up the trash in those few minutes.

I assume the surgery happened yesterday and that’s why we took a one-day break from Mike’s ongoing storyline to pay tribute to Peanuts. And also why Mike wasn’t at the recital even though the rest of the family was. But if the rest of the family was at the recital, does that mean no one was waiting for Mike to get out of surgery? That seems a bit cold.

I did not know that not everyone has wisdom teeth; until I asked my dentist about the need to remove mine. Boy, did I feel unwise!

Going rate today. $20 PER TOOTH. That’s what my son says.

I heard its $5 a tooth these days!

My brother had to have his wisdoms removed before the USAF would let him join. I guess they didn’t want to have the expense or other issues if they had to be removed after he became a helo pilot.

I got mine taken out when I was in the Air Force. Local anesthetic, no gas. One tooth was “extracted” with a hammer and chisel.