Wisdom - what not now surely?

It is impressed upon you when undergoing chemotherapy that your immune system will be compromised and that you should take any indication of bacterial infection seriously. Hence when I woke in the early hours and realised that my impacted wisdom tooth - having lain three quarters revealed but dormant for some forty years - had sprung into action, I was in a state of mild panic. Daylight is a great healer and so was the Ibuprofen. I then negotiated the NHS Direct helpline (sent there by the dentist's out of hours message) and from there to a dental nurse who rang me back, and finally a dentist. She suggested that a wisdom tooth that had caused no trouble for so long probably wasn't infected but that I might have a tiny piece of food stuck somewhere. Another good clean, pain relief if necessay and warm salt mouthwashes were recommended (I guess hot Bovril fits the bill too) - and of course I already have the antiseptic rinse with which I was issued and that I use night and morn. Panic over.

P.S. Something hard, black and sharp manipulated itself out of the side of my gum this morning; the dentist was right. Inflammation now subsided.