I'm losing my wisdom...

Let me start by saying that every time I visit the dentist he gives me a hard time about my unpulled wisdom teeth.  (The two on the bottom.)  Since they really haven't caused any problems I have cheerfully ignored him while reminding him that he could not badger me about it with much credibility since he also still has two of his.  However, the last time I went he said that there is enough bone loss around my wisdom teeth that food is going to start creeping back behind the gums so that it will not be possible for me to clean them. He said the result would be an abscess that would cause the loss of several other molars in addition to the wisdom teeth, and it'd be an emergency situation then, and a horrible, painful experience. So now I am left with the lesser of the two evils, getting my wisdom teeth out.

When I went to the oral surgeon, the office did one of those panoramic (and really, REALLY flattering… Makes your head look like a medicine ball) xrays and said that the roots are solidly fused to the jaw bone and that they are very close to the nerves. He is hoping to extract them without damaging the nerves (which would result in possible numbness and paralysis of the facial muscles which could be permanent) but if he gets in there and it doesn't look possible he'll just saw off the tooth a little lower than the gum line and let the gums grow over what's left of the tooth. That also sounds horrible. Thank goodness I will be unconscious throughout this. I have a vision of a hacksaw in my mouth, and I'm hoping he doesn't end up sawing my mouth open like a pez dispenser. I'll end up looking like the Jack Nicholson version of the Joker. I'll be off work until I can function without pain medication. 

Oh, and what is it about hearing that someone has upcoming oral surgery that invites others to share their own oral surgery horror stories?  I would rather hear them after I'm healed up, thank you very much.