Going public to remove Wisdom Teeth?

wisdomornot

I have just been told by my dentist that I need 2 wisdom teeth removed, and that to go private it will cost €1500 as I need to go under general anaesthetic.

I don't have health insurance and I can't afford to get it, nor can I afford the €1500. I am working and paying PRSI.

So can anyone tell me can I get them removed by going public? And how likely I am to wait?

Wisdom or not

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Firstly is would only be 1500 under GA often these teeth can be removed under sedation of just local anesthetic. Depends on what you want. GA will cost a lot more. Public system is grand like the dental hospital however you will wait a lot longer for treatment and it depends on how sore the wisdom teeth are. If they are not sore maybe you can afford to wait. The dental hospitals are not free either unless you have a medical card and the fee would be somewhere around 700 euro ( dont quote me on this).

carly_86

Viviana Big Striker wrote: »

Firstly is would only be 1500 under GA often these teeth can be removed under sedation of just local anesthetic. Depends on what you want. GA will cost a lot more. Public system is grand like the dental hospital however you will wait a lot longer for treatment and it depends on how sore the wisdom teeth are. If they are not sore maybe you can afford to wait. The dental hospitals are not free either unless you have a medical card and the fee would be somewhere around 700 euro ( dont quote me on this).

Is this true! i have to go public as well and have to go under anesthetic. I have just been called for an appointment after months of waiting. why is it so expenisve to go public F**k me sideways id raither pull them out myself

rednut00

I had to get all 4 of mine taken out a few yearts ago. I think the bottom ones are more serious than the top ones in terms of the amount of nerves around then etc. My dentist referred me to a clinic in Derry Northern Ireland to have the bottom 2 removed. They took them out one at a time on 2 seperate days. without putting me under ie local anesthetic.

The cost from what i recall was around £150 per tooth £300 total and that was around 4 years ago.

Hope this helps someone

QuiteInterestin

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but how do you get into the public system?
I go to a private dentist, who has told me I need to get 2 of my wisdom teeth out under GA as they're impacted (the other one he was able to take out in the surgery). I put it off at the time (as I wanted to get a jaw problem sorted first). I don't mind waiting, as they're not giving me major problems at the moment, just getting infected now and then. Can my private dentist refer me on to a public dental hospital, or do I have to stay within the private system. Just out of interest, how (as an adult) do you attend a public dentist?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

The public dental service is the dental hospital which is not free unless you have a medical card, and does not offer GA facilities ATM.

Oral Surgeon

Contrary to popular opinion, going to a private oral surgeon is not much more expensive than the dental hospital. The dental hospital charged €245 for a lower wisdom tooth the last time I checked a few months ago whereas I'd charge €300.

Privately, you know who you are seeing whereas in the public system you may be lucky and have the professor working on your case or you may have someone less experienced or sometimes a student.....

The biggest thing for me and most people is time!!! Privately, you can organize the appointments to suit your work holidays etc whereas the public system is a disaster here as you get the date that the computer sends you after waiting on the list for 9 months... try to reschedule that appointment if it does not suit you and you end up on another waiting list that may not suit you again....

Maldjd23

Had wisdom teeth removed myself years ago..Thank christ on the medical card at the time so it was free...My advice would be to go up north...

Hunchback

Viviana Big Striker wrote: »

The public dental service is the dental hospital which is not free unless you have a medical card, and does not offer GA facilities ATM.

This post worries my quite a bit. I am in an identical position to the one described earlier. No medical card, impacted wisdom tooth on lower jaw that requires extraction under GA. Cannot even nearly afford the cost of getting it done privately, so I asked the secretary in the private Bon Secour hospital in Galway to forward my X-rays on to the dental hospital, which she said she would.. but if they don't provide general anasthetics, that would seem completely pointless and only serve to waste time.
I wonder how much a treatment of this nature would cost up north, in Newry or someplace??

Oral Surgeon

Hi there,
You need your wisdom tooth removed, you don't necessarily need that to be done under GA... This can be done under local analgesia or iv sedation for considerably less money as it avoids the need to go to hospital altogether. Look into iv sedation...

Hunchback

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Hi there,
You need your wisdom tooth removed, you don't necessarily need that to be done under GA... This can be done under local analgesia or iv sedation for considerably less money as it avoids the need to go to hospital altogether. Look into iv sedation...

Hi , sorry , and thank you for your reply. Alas I should have been more specific in my description of the problem. The wisdom tooth never fully came through the gum, so a small incision will have to be made in the gumto allow for its removal, and also it is at such an awkward angle that a small chip will have to be taken from the jaw bone to make extraction possible, and this, my dentist assures me, would be better off being done under GA.
Unfortunately I feel the thing is going to rot into oblivion before I can get anything done

btkm8unsl0w5r4

You (and everybody else also) don't need a GA for this procedure or any other oral surgery proceedure, they are done all the time under sedation,

We know its a surgical removal of an impacted wisdom tooth. I suggest you look into intravenous sedation the cost will be around half the price. People tend not to want the complications of a GA, the expense and also with people dropping medical insurance its becoming more of an issue.

There is no wisdom tooth in the world that must have a GA, there are only patients that think there is no alternative when there is.

Oral Surgeon

Well said fitzgeme. I'll second that. I use iv sedation all the time for time consuming wisdom tooth and implant cases. Pretty much everyone reports that it was a very comfortable way to have treatment, most don't even remember it at all.

peggie

i had one lower wisdom tooth out with sedation- i was extremely nervous patient and at the time it wasn't going to happen any other way- looking back i hated it

amnesia is part if the process but to me it was like waking up after a big night before and no knowing what i did or said- if i can avoid it -never again!

i had the other lower wisdom tooth out 4 years later and was a lot less nervous so had it with OS under local, it was straight forward and i was very happy with it

if someone was extremely nervous sedation does work just be aware you won't remember it so be prepared for that but def better than putting it off and letting the tooth deteriorate making the job bigger

with regards to GA- if not necessary why do oral surgeons extract wisdom teeth under GA?

i would say that in some cases GA is the better option, depending on number of teeth, severity of impaction, anxiety of patient but for cases where it is patient choice exploring the option of sedation may give the patient the experience they want, possibly at a more affordable price.

peg

Oral Surgeon

Thanks Peggie,
Funnily most people like the amnesia but some are afraid that they might say something odd- this doesn't really happen as there is not much opportunity to talk with someone working in your mouth...
As to why people like using GA...? I can't speak for everyone but for the most part surgeons have built their practice on GA and are very comfortable using it for their patients. I'm not saying that iv sedation is a very difficult technique to master but some do not have that specific training or the facilities to provide it in a safe environment.

The use of GA was nearly seen as a no brainer previously as it could be accessed publically and privately as a lot of people had private medical insurance to cover it...
Now that it is effectively not available publically and that people are dropping medical insurance and those who keep theirs are on a lesser plan that may not cover GA and hospital fees- IV sedation is the best option

jamesbrond

My sister got her lower wisdoms removed up the north.
I cant remember how much but it was something like a quarter of the price she was quoted here.
Worth checking out.

narddog

Would highly recommend IV sedation, if, like me, you're slightly queasy in the dentist chair. During recent implant surgery, when I got the IV, I didn't have amnesia or lose consciousness. Instead, I felt like I was in a relaxing dream-like state. I was aware of the work that was being done, but didn't really care! As an added bonus, the time flew, and I was out of the chair before I knew it.