<p>My ds (ages 17 and 19) went for check ups recently, and the dentist wants them to start planning to have their wisdom teeth extracted (during Christmas break, for example).</p>
<p>If a dentist is recommending this, does it mean it HAS to be done? What is the downside of waiting, or never having it done?</p>
<p>Neither my husband nor I ever had them out.</p>
<p>We spent a lot of money on orthodontia, which, in the case of one daughter, I am not sure was warranted. Now I am wondering if this is something which is becoming routine when it doesn’t have to be.</p>
<p>Dentist called and wanted to do this before daughter goes to school. Daughter says her teeth are fine and doesn’t want to do them. We did son’s as his were impacted. Mine were done when I was young because of crowding. If there isn’t a problem, then they don’t have to be done.</p>
<p>That said, if a problem develops, then it would be easier if they did it with their regular dentist.</p>
<p>My feeling is that dentists are feeling the economic pinch and are trying to drum up elective business.</p>
<p>We’re dealing with this question here too. My son complained about his tooth last week, thought it was a cavity. Dentist found nothing, took x-rays, and we’re now talking about wisdom tooth removal. His pain has gone, at least for now. Dentist said that if the tooth emerges, the procedure is much easier (and thereforeless costly). Guess we’re going to wait until removal is necessary. He has a few more weeks before he goes back to college.</p>
<p>You can also determine some of your decision based on your own (and spouse’s own) experience. Did you (or your spouse) need to have your wisdom teeth removed? If so, it’s quite likely your kids may need this done too.</p>
<p>I’m as skeptical as the next person – more, in fact – but if I’d sunk a bundle in orthodontia I wouldn’t want the wisdom teeth to mess that up. The downside or not having it done is that they push on the other teeth, which become crooked again.</p>
<p>Next summer, the ortho has recommended that ds 1) have jaw surgery to correct severe underbite and while the oral surgeon is in there to 2) have this wisdom teeth removed and 3) correct his deviated septum, which we were going to do this summer. The ortho isn’t doing any of this so he has no skin in the game except for the jaw surgery, which will give him a better result from the braces.</p>
<p>Wisdom teeth are softer than others, harder to clean due to location, thus more subject to decay. In our kids with sealants, probably much more subject to decay.</p>
<p>As my mouth had space, I didn’t have mine out till in my 30s and they started to decay a bit. The other downside to waiting is that they grow into place more firmly with the years. </p>
<p>I have good dental insurance, and wanted my kids to get this done before they were done with my insurance. It seems the insurance max paid per year never goes up, though the price of dental work certainly does!</p>
<p>My kids tended to have them out over winter break. It is a down time, and they are not working at that point in the year.</p>
<p>I had to have mine taken out in my forties. It was very rough. I was told that they come out more easily when you are younger. If my experience is anything to go by, Do. It. Now.</p>
<p>We are facing the same issue and still haven’t decided what to do. My son is lucky he has straight teeth. I was concerned that the wisdom teeth would mess that up, but the dentist said there was no way a little wisdom tooth erupting could push the mass of the jaw bone and other teeth. He said the reason to remove them is because there is a high probability of trouble with impaction and infections. They are hard to impossible to keep clean. I’m skeptical because I have my wisdom teeth and have never had problems. It sounds totally preventative so there’s no rush except to increase your odds that they won’t get infected. Our dentist doesn’t remove wisdom teeth; he refers them out to an oral surgeon, but it seems to be a routine recommendation.</p>
<p>X-rays tell a lot and the reason why your dentist was suggesting removal. Sounds like they’ll eventually need to get removed, but as I wrote, if you can wait until they emerge, the process is easier and less costly.</p>
<p>In my 20s, my wisdom teeth became infected. I didn´t pay attention to them because I was busy at work and I didn´t have the money to do much with them (I also didn´t know it was due to wisdom teeth). They became so swollen that they almost blocked my wind pipe, according to the surgeon I went to see finally, I could have died in my sleep (clearly this is more of extreme).</p>
<p>We had D1´s teeth extracted when she was 16. Her teeth were a little bit crowded, but they felt a lot better after her wisdom teeth came out. D1 never had braces, but her teeth are beautiful. </p>
<p>D2 has a very small mouth. Her teeth are not perfect because there are 2 teeth sticking out a bit due to crowding. She just had her wisdom teeth extracted last Mon by the same surgeon as D1. She is recovering very nicely. She is in very little pain now. We are hoping her teeth would straighten out a bit, but if not, then she will have braces this year before she goes to college.</p>
<p>I would recommend for you to get the best oral surgeon to do the extraction. Good surgeon will be able to extract tooth without causing as much damage to the mouth, which would minimize swallowing and possibly other complications. By following post surgery cleaning is also vital in faster recovery. I would also extract all 4 at once because there is no way you could get your kid to go back.</p>
<p>If the teeth are impacted, you could file it with medical and dental.</p>
<p>csfmap, doesn’t sound as if your son needs to have his teeth removed, unless the x-rays shows they are or will be impacted. You can ask how they’d become infected if they are growing out just fine. Is this because of cleaning issues? If so, did you ever experience infections?</p>
<p>You’re right: there are many doctors that involve teeth: dentists (who normally fill cavities), orthodontists (who normally do braces), periodontists and oral surgoens are also MDs. Peridontists do work under the gums or grafting, while oral surgeons remove teeth, especially wisdom teeth.</p>
<p>All sorts of events intervened and D2 never went to get her wisdom teeth extracted as our dentist recommended. She’d never had trouble and never had orthodontia. Low and behold, second semester of freshman year–she got impacted wisdom teeth and had to have oral surgery. The health service at her LAC recommended an oral surgeon. I traveled down to school and stayed with her for the surgery and afterwards. Rented a room at a really nice hotel and pampered her (and later friends) for the weekend. She recovered quickly, but it would have been much cheaper to have just had her wisdom teeth extracted at home.</p>
<p>I had mine out in two surgeries in my teens. One was at an oral surgeon and took many, many hours. I think that there was a lot of concern over the surgery - they only did two. The other two were done in an operating room at a local hospital.</p>
<p>I was concerned that our son would have the same problems as his teeth take after mine. What I discovered is that the technology for removing wisdom teeth is much better today than it was 30 years ago. He had two done in half an hour and two done at a second appt. The dentist said that he could get them all out in one appt but I suggested two because of my experiences. Recovery for him was very fast.</p>
<p>S1 had all 4 extracted 3 weeks ago - 2 impacted and 2 not. He was feeling just a bit of pain now and then. We chose the best oral surgeon in our plan in our area. The advantage of doing it now is that that the roots are fuzzy and not really entrenched into the jaw (and near the nerve!). It went extremely well. No heavy painkillers were needed and he played video games until midnight - not even taking a nap at all!</p>
<p>Many wisdom teeth, even impacted ones, never cause trouble. However, some, particularly those which are partially erupted in odd positions, can become harder to clean and get infected more easily.</p>
<p>Basically, there are two strategies:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Don’t extract unless it becomes a problem. There is a decent chance you will avoid the surgery, its cost, and its possible complications, because many wisdom teeth never cause a problem.</p></li>
<li><p>Extract as a preventive measure. Risk of complications, while not zero, is likely to be less than if it is done at an older age (although technological advances may partially compensate). However, it is possible that extraction was done needlessly.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The problem is that it is not always obvious in one’s teens and twenties whether an unerupted wisdom tooth will cause trouble in one’s thirties or older age.</p>
<p>Note that in the US, the most common recommendation by dentists follows strategy 2, but that may not be the case in some other countries.</p>
<p>BC, I want to live in NH. At least your oral surgeon is cost-worthy. Our son had a WTooth out last year. Cost $970. In pain, but not impacted. I was the one in pain too.</p>
<p>This was a dentist, not an oral surgeon. Both extractions took something like 20 minutes. </p>
<p>In general, my dentist is expensive - he has a lot of high-tech toys. He’s not on our dental plan and my dental plan has a max $1K benefit so I pay a fair amount out of pocket when I have a lot of stuff done. I leave a $1,000 credit balance with him for stuff my insurance doesn’t cover.</p>