Bryanna,

Thanks for the reply!

As to why it has to be removed: I'm going into the nuclear submarine field, and all submariners require that they pass a physical which determines whether they could have future problems that would require the submarine to deviate from their mission to fix the problem. In my case (and all submariner's cases) that means that if there are abnormalities (i.e. odd wisdom teeth) it must be dealt with before getting underway. The surgeon and dentist both acknowledge that, if not for the submarine thing, the surgery would be unnecessary.

As to his skills...well, I will admit that I am a little worried, but the surgeon himself is 55ish, and has been an Oral/Maxillofacial surgeon for 25 years. He told me not to worry, that he does about 4 of these a month (he is the only such surgeon in the navy at Naval Base Great Lakes), and that about 10-20% of his surgeries require that he go into the sinus cavity.

I am relieved that you have heard of my situation before; that was my primary concern, as to whether I had such a unique situation that there may be unforeseen complications. While I definitely would be happier if I could avoid people riffling around in my sinuses, I trust the doctor himself to do a good job; he seems to be very competent and knowledgeable, and at the same time understands that messing me up permanently would be a very bad thing for the Navy (lots of money in training, education, etc).

Thanks for your reply!

~TJ