[tamaralynn]

My stupid wisdom teeth are bugging me. I had the top two removed over the past few years.

At the time, the dentist said that the bottom two will be difficult, as the roots are wrapped around nerves. And if the teeth are removed in the traditional way, there is a HUGE risk of destroying the nerves, and losing feeling in my jaw.

They told me I could either go see a specialist (whom of which are rarely covered under employment dental benefits) or wait it out and see if they grow in straight - which was what it was appearing to do, and didn't seem to be causing any problems.

Well... now they're growing out sideways against the darned tendons in my face... and it's starting to hurt

The last dentist I saw said that they MAY need to break my jaw to take them out... but one of the dentists at my work (whom I supervise exams for) told me that it's mostly tripe and will just need surgery at the hospital to remove them carefully.

I'm going to a new dentist this weekend to see what they say.

[Tomato]

Good luck with that. I had to see a specialist once, actually twice. The first one was (I think) an orthodontist. He spent a total of about 2 minutes (probably less) with me for which pleasure I was charged $72 dollars (that was about 5 years ago, the fee would be probably higher today). Geez Luise!
Fortunately, I have fairly good dental benefits through work so it did not go from my own pocket.
I forgot how much the other specialist charged but he actually did spend a lot more time with me.

[Lovely]

Oh my! Good luck with the new dentist! May they give you good news.

[Hat Trick]

My 17 yr old is getting hers out tomorrow. They took a panoramic xray to see exactly how they were going to grow in and to access if they needed to come out. They do. We have dental benefits up to $1200/yr for anything that's done (excluding braces). Of course, we've used up a decent bit of that on xrays, cleaning, two small cavities. She's having them removed by an oral surgeon, not a dentist. My understanding is that oral surgeons typically do this rather than a dentist. It's $300 per tooth, $560 for the knock out drug and anothe $125 for the surgical tray. Since about 1/2 of this is out of pocket for us, we're thrilled that she only has 3 wisdome teeth that need to come out. He did say we could wait but that the longer you wait the more the roots entwine w/the nerves and bones.

They originally wanted to put her in the hospital but our coverage for this was under dental. Check your insurance - both medical and dental. It may be covered under medical. Also, I called the surgical ward on our medical just to triple check that it wasn't covered under medical (better coverage under medical). They do make exceptions and cover it under medical; call and ask because you never know. Good luck!!

[shantroy]

I had 7, (yes 7!) wisdom teeth. Full set of molars, wisdom teeth then every where but the upper left side I had another full tooth growning in. I had mine removed by an oral surgeon and it went well. In and out and eating solid food by the next morning, never even opened the bottle of pain killers.

Unfortunately, I'm now looking have having my palet and jaw broken. I've been in orthodontics for the last 17 years and they can't fix my bite. I'm now having serious jaw problems on the left side. (Thank-fully, if we can't solve the problem anyother way; the entire thing will be covered by insurance) I went to see my denist to have molds made $550! Not covered by insurance. I still have to pay for the follow up appointment and then the consulation with the oral surgeon then the year's worth of braces after the surgery...

Good luck with the appoitment Tamaralynn.