For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 11, 2024

Getting a surgery during the holidays means John is going to have to call in a favor.

Well now we know John doesn’t do surgeries. Just basic maintenance/preventive dentistry.

That’s a “good” side?? Will Michael be spending the holidays in the hospital? Back in 2022, I was in a physical rehab place on Christmas Day. Being Jewish, I don’t celebrate that, but my roomie had her area all decked out. Sadly, she had to be moved to an isolation ward, along with a number of others, when COVID hit the place. Thank God, I was not infected, and I went home a few days later.

watch what you say after the laughing gas

John has a strange idea of what a ‘good thing’ is…

mine hit me at 29, aboard a destroyer in combat zone. fun. i had to wait a month to get to port first, from grenada to philly. i was ordered to bed rest, then told i couldn’t be in my bunk during work hours. more fun. i learned to sleep on diamond-tread steel engine room deck plating. for a month.

Which holiday is it in Canada on December 11th?

If I remember going to school in Canada in the 1970s we didn’t get a Christmas holiday until the 22nd or 23rd of December. I do remember that we always had Christmas Eve off even when it was a week day.

Shopping day hours still were open even on the 24th, but stores usually closed early by 5 PM on that day.

Gosh it is really already the holiday today? Dig that. Now I know why John’s dental office really had a big deal about closing last Friday.

Mine were done in the Doc’s office. All 4, unerupted, impacted. Joy to the world,

This is in addition to Michael being a pain in the butt and a pain in the neck.

Dad’s right. During the holidays, Michael is home, where family can look after him.

Isn’t his dad a dentist?

I had to have my wisdom teeth removed when I was a freshman in college and my mom scheduled it for spring break. I feel your pain Michael.

But no he won’t be able to enjoy any holiday treats!

Doesn’t John do exractions? It was a regular Dentist that removed my wisdom teeth.

A dentist removed mine, but my daughter’s was impacted and was growing in below her other tooth so she needed to have oral surgery. She was quite miserable. Poor kid!

I had mine done at 18 years old, I looked like a chipmunk

I had an infected #15 for a year after the dentist tried to do a root canal and couldn’t find the lower (upper) three roots. He took out the connection near the top (bottom) of the tooth and two of the nerves died, which was why it didn’t hurt. Last month another dentist finished the job, and the permanent crown will be in the new year. Once in a while that nerve did flare up, but I’d thought it had been my gums. It seems my upper teeth keep giving me trouble, while the lower ones don’t.

The definition of “good” is not universal.

Your dad will help you get better, Mike.

hat’s like being told when you descend to heck and some idiot says “At least you won’t get frostbite.”

I had one school year, 2nd or 3rd, where I had the measles over Christmas break and the mumps over the Easter break.

and how is that a good thing… besides time to recover before going back to the band wagon we call work. :L

Got mine done in the Navy by a regular dentist. Not hurting though. I was doing it proactively before I had problems.

Poor Michael… Perhaps his pain, swelling and healing will have progressed to where he can eat some of the Holiday foods, and treats by Christmas – IF he gets the extraction done like very soon.

WIMPS!! I had four wisdom teeth removed at the same time. Just how things happened. Then a friend blasted me because I missed a Christmas party the same day. Some people and their kids!! lol

If this came with sound, everyone would have a laugh hearing Michael talk. With that swelled cheek he would sound like his tongue is in the way.

Hey,Mike,can I have your peanut brittle?

The only Wisdom imparted by Wisdom teeth is take care of your teeth and they will take care of you ! P.s. , I had mine taken out by a Navy Dentist ( a Captain at that ) left , right 3 months apart ,the tops were impacted requiring a little chisel and mallet work , two day rack pass then back on duty .

They day of my WT extraction I went out for soft tacos and beer, washed those Tylenol 3s right down!

Miserable during the holidays, John? How is that a good thing, you GRINCH!?

My older son had 4 wisdom tooth impacted at the same time and removed all at once. Poor boy. He was in middle school.

Looking forward to fun, oops ! ;-)

This is my last full month in office, so I try to see the good side of enjoying all the privileges that the common folk don’t have.

I’ll bet Mike won’t need an appointment.

Good thing the Pattersons live in Canada…oh wait, this is not covered by OHIP!

That’s what my mom said when I was 10 or so, and my sister and I came down with mumps AND measles over the holidays. Miserable 2 weeks!

When I was 17 going on 18 back in 1972 the oral surgeons were doing impacted wisdom teeth in the office. Less than a month before I was advised I needed the procedure one of my mother’s friend’s daughter had died in the chair because of a problem with the anesthetic and she never woke up. Mom was terrified that would happen to me and they had it done in the hospital. Pulled in morning, home by supper (pudding for me). Mom was reassured because the doctors were immediately available in case of trouble.

Mine came out at four different times with four different dentists all done in their offices.

Between Elizabeth’s glasses, April’s circumcised head and now Michael’s appearance, the Patterson kids are getting stranger looking with every strip.

My bottom wisdom teeth came in while I was in high school. That was a painful process (twice) but they came in full and straight. I still have them. The top ones never showed and no dentist has mentioned them.

In 1966, I had all my wisdom teeth pulled out while on college Christmas break.

Can we sing “All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” yet?