impacted wisdom teeth Archives - Drake & Wallace Dentistry

I have a 20 year old daughter who has two impacted wisdom teeth. I don’t want this to be a situation where there ends up being complications and her ending up in terrible pain during the procedure. I was thinking because the tooth is impacted we should do the procedure in a hospital under general anesthesia. My dentist insists that sedation with him is all she’ll need, but it occurred to me that maybe he is only saying this because he wanted the money for the procedure and the sedation. Will my daughter be safe and comfortable no matter which type of sedation we use?

Madeline

Dear Madeline,

I can tell you care about your daughter very much and want the best and safest option for her. Because your daughter is twenty years old, the bone where her wisdom tooth is impacted is quite pliable. It would be unlikely there would be any complication to worry about. Impacted wisdom teeth are rather common to extract and she should be just fine with the dental sedation.

I am certain your dentist will be suggesting this as well, but I am going to suggest you have your daughter get oral conscious sedation. She will take a simple pill. However that pill is so strong that you will need to drive her to and from her dental appointment as well as stay with her for a few hours after her appointment, at the very least until she is lucid and steady on her feet. You will be happy to know that she will be completely at rest during the procedure.

I was curious about your concern that your dentist was just trying to get the money from the sedation. Has your dentist given you any reason in the past to doubt his integrity. I would find it most heinous if a dentist tried to talk you into a procedure that could put your daughter in discomfort unnecessarily. If you truly feel he is capable of that, I suggest finding another dentist pronto.

This blog is brought to you by Decatur, AL Dentist Drs. Drake and Wallace.

I have an impacted wisdom tooth that is also infected. Above it I have a molar which has already had two root canal treatments. It doesn’t feel right. My dentist wants me to remove the wisdom tooth, but I want both teeth removed and he is refusing to remove the one with the root canal treatment. Why would he do this? I haven’t moved forward on any treatment yet because I want to do them both at once.

Mandy

Dear Mandy,

My guess as to why your dentist doesn’t want to extract both teeth is he has integrity. Let’s say he did extract that tooth. He’d make money on the extraction. Then, guess what? You’d have to replace that tooth. More money for your dentist. If you wanted the best replacement, a dental implant, that would be even more money. Instead, he is telling you the tooth is fine and doesn’t need to be extracted. I would count his integrity as a blessing.

So, why is the tooth above hurting? I haven’t examined you. However, if it is hurting and he’s told you the wisdom tooth is infected, then it seems to me that the infection from your wisdom tooth is either referring pain or is spreading.

Dental infections are considered emergencies for just this reason. Plus, they aren’t something you can just take an antibiotic for. A dentist has to get in there and physically remove the infection by either a root canal treatment or an extraction. With a wisdom tooth, especially an impacted wisdom tooth, it makes more sense to do the extraction. They aren’t teeth that need to be saved, like the molar does.

I’m sure you would be able to find another dentist willing to accept those extra fees from unnecessary procedures, but I am going to recommend you stay with your current dentist who cares more about what is best for you than what is best for his bank account.

Please don’t put off the extraction, especially if this infection is already spreading as I suspect. Your jaw is close to your heart, lungs, and brain. If it reaches those areas, it can turn life-threatening. This is one of the reasons people still die from tooth infections.

This blog is brought to you by Decatur, AL Dentists Drs. Drake and Wallace.

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