LEVEL UP YOUR NEXT FAMILY GAME NIGHT Impress Your Kids With These Fresh Choices
If you’re tired of playing Catan every family board game night, we have good news: There are brand-new games in town! Consider adding these three options to your family’s stash. Wavelength Not only is this game perfect for playing with your whole family (ages 5 and up), but it also actively encourages conversation! Up to 12 players can split into teams and use hints from their peers to guess their teammates’ opinions on various topics. The issues can range from the merit of hit movies to “Where, on the scale of wet to dry, is spaghetti?” The New York Times’ Wirecutter ranked Wavelength among the best board games of 2022 and recommended it to fans of other interactive, team-based guessing games like Codenames. Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum Who doesn’t love a food-themed board game? This fun, fast-paced game for 2–5 players, ages
14 and up, comes with a Lazy Susan filled with dim sum ingredients. You play as a Zodiac animal and aim to collect more dim sum than any other players. Instead of fortune cookies, fortune cards help determine your luck! “If you’re looking for a fresh new party game in 2023, Steam Up looks like a real tabletop joy,” GamesHub reports. Steam Up was launched on
Kickstarter and, as we write this, is available for preorder and expected to ship soon.
Small World Kids ages 8 and up will love this board game, especially if they’re “Lord of the Rings” fans. As Wirecutter explains, “Imagine a game of Risk set in Middle-earth that didn’t take as long to play as rewatching all of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films would. That’s pretty much the experience of Small World, an area-control game filled with elves, dwarves, and halflings, among others.” When you sit down to play, you choose a band of magical creatures and a power, then set up your “empire” and battle the other players for land and gold. At the end of 60–80 minutes of strategizing, the richest player wins the game. If any of these games catch your eye, head to your local game store and ask if they’re available, or jump online to snag them yourself!
A WORD TO THE WISE When Wisdom Teeth Removal Is Necessary
To modern humans, wisdom teeth mostly feel like an inconvenience. They seem to exist only to be removed! But once upon a time, they were like any other teeth in our mouth, and decay or breaks were the only reasons for extraction. Times have changed, and so have we. Humans have evolved to eat softer foods, and as a result, our jaws have shrunk. Our ancestors lived with their wisdom teeth just fine, but today there’s usually not enough room in our mouths. Some people still have large enough jaws to accommodate wisdom teeth, but they’re a shrinking portion of the population. Further, these patients sometimes struggle to keep their wisdom teeth clean. Getting a toothbrush and floss that far back in your mouth is difficult, so some people remove their wisdom teeth to prevent decay, irritation, and infection. But for most, the problem is crowding. Not all wisdom teeth come in, but when they do, they often shift other teeth in the mouth or even damage them. Particularly for patients who have had braces, wisdom teeth can undo years of dental work and make a once-straight smile crooked. Therefore, it can be wise to remove them preemptively.
Impacted wisdom teeth have their own problems. While some people never have any symptoms, others experience pain. Meanwhile, those who don’t have direct pain from the wisdom teeth can have side effects. Bleeding gums, loss of bone, and bad breath are only some of the potential consequences.
No one will claim oral surgery to remove wisdom teeth is fun. But fortunately, the process is highly bearable. Except in particularly complex cases, patients generally don’t experience pain for more than a day or so after the procedure. Further, you have anesthetic options. While most extractions use local anesthesia to prevent pain during surgery, some patients opt for sedation, so they will not be conscious of the procedure. Many people question whether they truly need their wisdom teeth removed, particularly when they are not feeling pain. The decision to undergo surgery is personal, but if your dentist suggests wisdom tooth removal, there is probably a good reason. Consider their opinion carefully before deciding to keep them intact.
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