My wisdom tooth extraction experience

littlemiss123

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Usually years, exactly how long depends on where you are being seen....
Btw, no one needs a GA to get their tooth out.....

Good luck,
Os

Thanks Oral Surgeon!

That is a long time, really cannot afford to go private though Is it covered under health insurance?

Yeah, the dentist just said I'd need to get it done in the dental hospital and I'd be knocked out so I assumed a GA, I'm not a medical professional so don't have a clue! Would it just be heavy sedation?

W_J_Happen

littlemiss123 wrote: »

Thanks Oral Surgeon!

That is a long time, really cannot afford to go private though Is it covered under health insurance?

Yeah, the dentist just said I'd need to get it done in the dental hospital and I'd be knocked out so I assumed a GA, I'm not a medical professional so don't have a clue! Would it just be heavy sedation?

Hey Littlemiss

In my case three were impacted and these were all covered by VHI - one wasn't do I had to pay €100 for its removal. I didnt gave dental cover so I still had to pay for the various trips to the dentist around it but the actual procedure was covered.

It depends on your health insurance though - there may be a hospital excess etc. they are all different but if they have to come out they should be covered.

(4 days since the op and I'm yet to feel any pain!)

lindtee

littlemiss123 wrote: »

Could anyone advise roughly how long the HSE waiting list is for wisdom teeth extraction? I've been put on the waiting list and I will need to get them done under a general anaesthetic. I'd imagine it will be long enough but don't know will it be months or years?

I was waiting about a year to get wisdom teeth out in Cork dental hospital. Two bottom ones which they took out a month apart under local anesthetic. First one proved difficult to get out and I ended up with dry socket but the second one was fine with no issues after.

Oral Surgeon

littlemiss123 wrote: »

Thanks Oral Surgeon!

That is a long time, really cannot afford to go private though Is it covered under health insurance?

Yeah, the dentist just said I'd need to get it done in the dental hospital and I'd be knocked out so I assumed a GA, I'm not a medical professional so don't have a clue! Would it just be heavy sedation?

So you have health insurance??
If the tooth/teeth are impacted or unerupted then the removal will be covered by your health insurance (provided you have insurance for more than 6 months).
Consultations and X-rays ate bit covered, there may be small additional fees for sedation etc or large additional fees for GA in some private hospitals....
I don't know about cork but I know that the Dublin dental hospital has no payment agreement with the medical insurance companies so you end up paying more than you should.... and still have to wait for the treatment....

littlemiss123

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

So you have health insurance??
If the tooth/teeth are impacted or unerupted then the removal will be covered by your health insurance (provided you have insurance for more than 6 months).
Consultations and X-rays ate bit covered, there may be small additional fees for sedation etc or large additional fees for GA in some private hospitals....
I don't know about cork but I know that the Dublin dental hospital has no payment agreement with the medical insurance companies so you end up paying more than you should.... and still have to wait for the treatment....

No I don't have health insurance, but if I'm going to be waiting two years, I'm wondering would I be better off taking out insurance then waiting a 6-8 months and going private to get it done?

TBH...I've been fairly lucky with my health, never had to deal with hospitals, bills, insurance etc so it's a bit of a grey area for me.

I'm just a bit nervous because the dentist said she was 'very concerned' about them and they need to come out 'sooner rather than later' so I'm wondering is a two year wait too long? Again...not a dentist so for all I know, dentists could say that to everyone who need to get wisdom teeth out!

DublinWriter

I was a little pee'd off at my dentist.

Went in with a bad ache in an un-impacted and erupted wisdom.

Was told it was soft tissue infection, sent home with a script for anti-biotics.

Pain still bad a week later, went back and got a composite filling.

By the next week the pain was unbearable and I insisted it was pulled. He agreed, pulled it. On getting home and examining it I saw a large black area of decay on the tooth about 3mm in circumference below the gum line where obviously pocketing was going on.

Since the troublesome wisdom had no occlusional role to play, what was the point in trying to save it in the first place?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

DublinWriter wrote: »

I was a little pee'd off at my dentist.

Went in with a bad ache in an un-impacted and erupted wisdom.

Was told it was soft tissue infection, sent home with a script for anti-biotics.

Pain still bad a week later, went back and got a composite filling.

By the next week the pain was unbearable and I insisted it was pulled. He agreed, pulled it. On getting home and examining it I saw a large black area of decay on the tooth about 3mm in circumference below the gum line where obviously pocketing was going on.

Since the troublesome wisdom had no occlusional role to play, what was the point in trying to save it in the first place?

Was an X-ray taken at any point?

DublinWriter

Jenna Warm Mining wrote: »

Was an X-ray taken at any point?

Yep, on my first visit to establish that it wasn't impacted (which it wasn't).

That's when I was sent home with the script for the anti-biotics and told that it was probably a soft-tissue infection.

Oral Surgeon

littlemiss123 wrote: »

No I don't have health insurance, but if I'm going to be waiting two years, I'm wondering would I be better off taking out insurance then waiting a 6-8 months and going private to get it done?

TBH...I've been fairly lucky with my health, never had to deal with hospitals, bills, insurance etc so it's a bit of a grey area for me.

I'm just a bit nervous because the dentist said she was 'very concerned' about them and they need to come out 'sooner rather than later' so I'm wondering is a two year wait too long? Again...not a dentist so for all I know, dentists could say that to everyone who need to get wisdom teeth out!

No, this is actually insurance fraud. You know that you have a problem and need treatment so take out insurance with the sole purpose of having that treatment covered..... not worth it....

If you take out insurance and then discover the problem, you need to wait for 6 months to have treatment to be covered....
If like you, you know about the problem before you start the insurance, then the wait time before cover kicks in is 5 years....!! This is to stop people doing such things.... insurance is a business too.....

It's like crashing your car while on 3rd party then upgrading to comp and then reporting the crash.....

With insurance premiums so high, you would actually be cheaper to pay for the treatment under IV sedation yourself than take out an insurance plan....

OS

PennyWren

I had 2 impacted wisdom teeth out in the Dublin dental Hosp recently. I was on the waiting list for about 2 1/2 years. I have no health insurance and couldn't afford to pay to have them removed privately. I was lucky to only get 2 bad infections and (I think) avoided too many other problems by keeping them really clean and rinsing with hot salty water any time they flared up. As far as I know average wait time is about 24 months but you can ask them to put you on the cancellations list too if you could go at short notice?

On another note for any one waiting anxiously to have them removed, it was such an easy experience in the end! It really eased my mind to read through this thread before I had mine out. I was sedated for mine and while I was conscious and I could hear people talking I felt like I was in another, totally painless world. Didn't feel a thing. Very little pain afterwards, no where near what I expected. I stuck to the painkiller schedule and used an ice pack a lot and a week later I was right as rain and eating normal food again. The hardest part was 48 smoke free hours!

Susie564

And they're out!

Had all four removed earlier today under GA. I'm pretty sore and swollen this evening but it's not too bad considering what my poor mouth's been through.

Hoping now I can get some sleep even though I don't feel remotely sleepy!

plastic glass

I just want to fill people in on my wisdom tooth experience. Bit of background. I am 31 and got my left lower wisdom tooth out about 8 years ago. Wasn't too bad but I did pick up an infection which needed a dose of antibiotics to get rid of. I got my right bottom wisdom tooth removed last wednesday week (11/09). There are a number of dentists in the practice but only one dental surgeon who removed the wisdom tooth (not impacted and with only some of the gum covering the tooth). The procedure went really well and was over in 2 minutes excluding getting the local anesthetic and waiting for mouth to get numb.
Went home, felt ok the next day. Bit sore but was able to go to college that evening. I was prescribed difene, a 3 day course of antibiotics and solpadol when needed. Was told to wash mouth out with salt water after eating etc but told nothing about not spitting blood out of your mouth or the dangers of dry socket. Sunday night woke up in really bad pain in jaw, ear and just under the ear near the cheek bone. Also pain in my front teeth and around a tooth where I have a crown.
I went back to work on monday and called into the dentist. The surgeon only works some evenings so I got to see another dentist. He said there was some dry socket there. (He was a bit vague to be honst). He cleaned it put some dissolvable dressing in it. He said to come back in a few days if not feeling better. I ended up going back in again the next day as pain was very very bad that night and sporadically through the day. He looked at it again and said that most of dressing was still there. He then gave me a prescription for a higher dose of difene and stronger painkillers. He did not give me more dressing for the tooth. I went home and took two of the painkillers and within half an hour began feeling much better. I took one of the difene that night and had a great night's sleep.
Wednesday and thursday I felt much better compared to tuesday but i do sporadically get some pain around the tooth that has a crown in it and in my jaw and under my ear beside my cheek bone. I was only taking the painkillers before I went to bed at night but was taking teh difene as prescribed. Today I feel no better than Wednesday to be honest.
I am just wondering what are people’s thoughts? Has the dry socket recovered or was it even dry socket? Or are the painkillers just keeping the pain at bay? I did not take any difene this morning as I have stomach problems and have been taking difene for over a week now. The dentist I saw on Monday and Tuesday said I should feel better by the weekend but booked me in to the surgeon on Monday in case I am not. I told him I was due to fly to Italy on teh 27th and he said there would be no problem there at all.
Right now though I am feeling pretty p1ssed off about the whole thing. I feel that the painkillers (which are not good for my stomach which is a whole different thread I know) are just keeping the pain at bay and have read the horror stories on the net about dry socket lasting for two weeks or longer. I know I am not in a lot of pain compared to some people but it is really affecting my work and study and am due to fly to Italy next week to propose to my girlfriend (she has the patience of a saint) but this is putting a whole dampner on things.
I also have a gaping hole in my mouth where teh tooth was which shows no sign of healing or closing up at all which makes eating and teh whole procedure after meals (washing mouth with salty water and syringing area with salty water) a chore.
I don’t mean to come across as ‘woe is me’ but any advice would be greatly appreciated. A few people have suggested a 2nd opinion might be an option but I am not sure it will be of any benfit

Susie564

Susie564 wrote: »

And they're out!

Had all four removed earlier today under GA. I'm pretty sore and swollen this evening but it's not too bad considering what my poor mouth's been through.

Hoping now I can get some sleep even though I don't feel remotely sleepy!

So the week's not been too bad - glad to have them out. Uppers feeling fine but lowers are still quite painful. Thought they would have settled by now??? Back to work tmrw :-(

carly_86

So i am waiting nervously to get 4 of my wisdom teeth out i with public. The doc is saying that they might not do it because my bmi is 2 high for the hospital. Im young fit and healthly waiting on the doctor to decide .

littlemiss123

Would anyone be able to advise roughly how long you would need to take off work with wisdom teeth?

I'm getting all 4 (lower ones are impacted, upper ones aren't) taken out under sedation/general anaesthetic but not sure what the recovery time is? Also, without going into the full story, I'm getting them taken out in the UK so will need to fly back afterwards and wondering how long after surgery to book the flight!

The dental surgeon said I'll be fine to go back to work in 2 days but I know they always lie about how much pain you'll be in :mad::mad:

Oral Surgeon

littlemiss123 wrote: »

Would anyone be able to advise roughly how long you would need to take off work with wisdom teeth?

I'm getting all 4 (lower ones are impacted, upper ones aren't) taken out under sedation/general anaesthetic but not sure what the recovery time is? Also, without going into the full story, I'm getting them taken out in the UK so will need to fly back afterwards and wondering how long after surgery to book the flight!

The dental surgeon said I'll be fine to go back to work in 2 days but I know they always lie about how much pain you'll be in :mad::mad:

4 standard wisdom teeth, I'd normally advise 5 days off. Some are easier and a shorter period applies, some are more difficult and longer applies.
I generally don't want my patients flying away 2 days later as dry socket onset is 3-5 days post op and late onset infections are possible too. Who will see you to sort out these issues if they arise....??

littlemiss123

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

4 standard wisdom teeth, I'd normally advise 5 days off. Some are easier and a shorter period applies, some are more difficult and longer applies.
I generally don't want my patients flying away 2 days later as dry socket onset is 3-5 days post op and late onset infections are possible too. Who will see you to sort out these issues if they arise....??

Thanks Oral Surgeon!

What's dry socket? I see a few people on here mentioning it. Is it common?

Gehad_JoyRider

Had 2 removed on Tuesday, My dentist made sure i was numb really numb before extraction. which was great I also had one molar removed its now sunday and I'm still in pain

SpaceTime

I have two very crooked wisdom teeth (upper) and my dentist doesn't seem to think they need to come out even though I occasionally bite my cheeks !

I would prefer to get them out with local rather than general and I'm sure this must be possible as they're fully erupted they just point outwards.

...

quaalude

SpaceTime wrote: »

I have two very crooked wisdom teeth (upper) and my dentist doesn't seem to think they need to come out even though I occasionally bite my cheeks !

I would prefer to get them out with local rather than general and I'm sure this must be possible as they're fully erupted they just point outwards.

...

I had my two upper wisdom teeth extracted under local anaesthetic over the last couple of weeks as my dentist advised it.
I was a little bit worried about the procedure, but not so much as I like and trust my dentist completely. (I used to be totally dentist-phobic though, before I found my dentist).

The anaesthetic part took 15 minutes or so, to make sure the area was totally numbed. The extraction took just a few minutes and it wasn't even slightly painful - just a bit strange-feeling, with some pressure.

I had one out, then, two weeks later the other out.

I had no problems whatsoever afterwards with either one - both times, I went home after, took a pre-emptive painkiller, rested for a couple of hours, then went out for a run. I went to work the next day as normal. I didn't take any more painkillers after the initial one as I wasn't in pain.

I hope this helps anyone reading - it doesn't take long, and isn't always painful.

SpaceTime

Yeah definitely helpful thanks.
I'm not overly keen on the idea of general anesthesia if avoidable

mckildare

Hope I have the same as your experience quaalude, my lower right is impacted and the dentist I went to today recommmends that I get it taken out sooner rather than later. She gave me a number for an oral surgeon so I guess it's time to bite the bullet, as best as I can

SpaceTime

Does anyone know what the various VHI plans cover on it too?

I have a very high VHI plan at the moment which I may not have next year and it might be an opportunity to get it done somewhere fancy.

Gehad_JoyRider

SpaceTime wrote: »

Does anyone know what the various VHI plans cover on it too?

I have a very high VHI plan at the moment which I may not have next year and it might be an opportunity to get it done somewhere fancy.

vhi is changing its dental cover next year to a new insurance providers that maybe a good thing ot a a bad thing.

my wisdom teeth are still hurting I've been given antibiotics:(

Oral Surgeon

Your regular vhi medical insurance (not separate dental plans) covers the removal of impacted or unerupted teeth (generally this is what wisdom teeth come under). Consultations, X-rays and some extras are not covered. Extras could be as little as e50 for some iv sedation or hundreds for the hospital excess in somewhere "fancy"....

Jennysue

Hi guys,

I got 2 wisdom teeth removed today by an oral surgeon! He recommended sedation as the lower tooth was severely impacted. The procedure took approximately an hour and I felt and remember nothing of it! After the sedation wore off about 3hours later I was in agony and have been since. I can hardly speak as it is so painful to open my mouth and it feels like my left tonsil is now swollen as well, as it is painful to swallow saliva/blood even. The surgeon told me to take solpadeine as I have an allergy to nurofen and I have taken two tablets every four hours since! I also applied a nice pack for 10mins on, 10mins off! They have not eased the pain in the slightest. I definitely won't be sleeping tonight 😢

I'm wondering is this normal or should I be worried?

SpaceTime

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Your regular vhi medical insurance (not separate dental plans) covers the removal of impacted or unerupted teeth (generally this is what wisdom teeth come under). Consultations, X-rays and some extras are not covered. Extras could be as little as e50 for some iv sedation or hundreds for the hospital excess in somewhere "fancy"....

It'll be staying as is for the time being so. I'll just bite carefully.

fryup

the surgeon today said there was a chance that i might have permanent numbness on one side of my face & tongue if i get my wisdom tooth extracted because its so close to the nerve

he didn't give me a percentage of the risk,

is he just going through the motions of reading from the script, i said i'd think about it...should i just throw caution to the wind and get it done??

Oral Surgeon

fryup wrote: »

the surgeon today said there was a chance that i might have permanent numbness on one side of my face & tongue if i get my wisdom tooth extracted because its so close to the nerve

he didn't give me a percentage of the risk,

is he just going through the motions of reading from the script, i said i'd think about it...should i just throw caution to the wind and get it done??

Generally speaking it is a one in 500 chance approx.... This varies greatly depending on your specific wisdom tooth. Yours might be more or less, I can't tell...

What you need to be happy about is whether the risk is justified. How much trouble has this tooth caused you and how much trouble is it likely to cause you (it might be decaying but not causing you any pain yet).

There is no point in risking the nerves to take out a perfectly normal tooth and likewise there is no point in leaving the tooth and getting multiple infections in the meantime...

Gehad_JoyRider

had all my wisdom teath removed over the past 6 weeks two on one side and the other two 4 weeks later. honestly chewing has become so much nicer . it may sound rough, tho preempt your nurophen plus and youle be fine I recomend every one gets it done