Dentist wants to remove my wisdom teeth, really?
Discussion
Never had an issue with my wisdom teeth and never needed a filling since I was a kid.
Anyway I joined a new dentist recently and had an introductory checkup. They said my partially impacted lower wisdom teeth might be causing decay on my second molars, and so should be removed.
They then x-rayed me, and said its hard to tell, but there may be some dark spots where my wisdom teeth are touching my second molars, and causing decay, and so his recommendation is to remove them.
Now I'm not adverse to preventive maintenance, pain, and I'm not bothered about the cost, it's more the risks involved, especially nerve damage.
They did a CT scan on me and said it's fine, that the nerves go round the teeth, that they are single roots and they aren't twisted, but I remain sceptical.
I'm just wondering what the PH collective would do?
I can stick up an x-ray if there are any dentists here?
Anyway I joined a new dentist recently and had an introductory checkup. They said my partially impacted lower wisdom teeth might be causing decay on my second molars, and so should be removed.
They then x-rayed me, and said its hard to tell, but there may be some dark spots where my wisdom teeth are touching my second molars, and causing decay, and so his recommendation is to remove them.
Now I'm not adverse to preventive maintenance, pain, and I'm not bothered about the cost, it's more the risks involved, especially nerve damage.
They did a CT scan on me and said it's fine, that the nerves go round the teeth, that they are single roots and they aren't twisted, but I remain sceptical.
I'm just wondering what the PH collective would do?
I can stick up an x-ray if there are any dentists here?
Had one of my top ones removed and need the other side doing.
Mine are/were growing slightly into the others and my dentist said we could leave it and it might be ok, or we could remove and make sure there wouldn’t be any future damage.
For £150 and a few days of dribbling i went for it.
Mine are/were growing slightly into the others and my dentist said we could leave it and it might be ok, or we could remove and make sure there wouldn’t be any future damage.
For £150 and a few days of dribbling i went for it.
Dentists are professionals and are regulated (of course no system is 100% fail safe!), so you can usually trust their judgement. If you have any doubts, you can always get a second opinion.
What is known, is that impacted third molars can create some pretty severe pain if not managed.
Good luck!
What is known, is that impacted third molars can create some pretty severe pain if not managed.
Good luck!
When I was in my mid-twenties I went to a new dentist in Oxford. I only had one wisdom tooth that was partially through (no pain or anything), but the dentist said I should have all of my wisdom teeth out. He gave me the choice of either having it done in hospital or “quicker and more convenient “ to have the dental practice do it. Naively I opted for the practice and booked an appointment for it to be done.
Luckily on the day I got stuck in really bad traffic in London and missed the appointment. I then moved from Oxford and when I next went to a different dentist they mentioned nothing about my wisdom teeth. This was about 35 years ago and apart from having the wisdom tooth that was partially through taken out about 10 years later when it became infected, I have never had any problems with my wisdom teeth which have never come through...
Luckily on the day I got stuck in really bad traffic in London and missed the appointment. I then moved from Oxford and when I next went to a different dentist they mentioned nothing about my wisdom teeth. This was about 35 years ago and apart from having the wisdom tooth that was partially through taken out about 10 years later when it became infected, I have never had any problems with my wisdom teeth which have never come through...
Don't see the point until it does become an issue, which might never happen. One of mine did cause problems ultimately leading to 3 teeth including the wisdom tooth being taken out and an implant. The one on the other side has the potential to cause problems, but the recommendation from my dentist was to wait and see. Mind you, dental costs here in NZ are crazy expensive.
Why on earth would you risk having a numb chin if you don't actually have a problem?
My experience with dentists has not been great ever since my Mum's old dentist retired. Last time I went, I had to teach them about the nerve supply to the face as she'd anaesthetised the wrong nerve.
Luckily my teeth appear to be made of granite so I don't have much need for them!
My experience with dentists has not been great ever since my Mum's old dentist retired. Last time I went, I had to teach them about the nerve supply to the face as she'd anaesthetised the wrong nerve.
Luckily my teeth appear to be made of granite so I don't have much need for them!
rog007 said:
Dentists are professionals and are regulated (of course no system is 100% fail safe!), so you can usually trust their judgement. If you have any doubts, you can always get a second opinion.
What is known, is that impacted third molars can create some pretty severe pain if not managed.
Good luck!
I went to a private dentist for a while because my practice went private about 10 years back. £30 a month. Anyway went in and suddenly needed 9 fillings at an eye watering price. Obviously never went back, got myself into another nhs dentist and I never needed a filling. Regulated or not, I'd get a second opinion. You can drill down between the two teeth and fill if needs must. What is known, is that impacted third molars can create some pretty severe pain if not managed.
Good luck!
Near 10 years on now, no problems except the one tooth the nhs dentist wanted to remove (coincidentally, my back wisdom I near snapped in half) I asked him to save it, he did, then 2 yeers on, lockdown happened and my tooth became agony beyond anything iv experienced. Still cant get an appointment all this time on. Clove oil saved me big time. Tooths either died or fixed its self because I dont feel anything and I did for months.
Retired dentist. The guidelines for the past decade or so have been to leave the wisdom teeth alone unless they’re actually causing problems.
The thing that’s possibly worrying your dentist is that the mechanism which eats through the bone to allow teeth to erupt into the mouth can sometimes eat away the back of the molar in front of the wisdom tooth, if it’s angled forwards.
Unfortunately this is usually painless until it’s far too late to do anything about it and the patient ends up losing the 2nd molar as well as the wisdom tooth.
The risk of nerve damage is pretty low, especially if they’ve got a CT scan to confirm the position of the nerve in relation to the tooth root.
The fees for tooth extraction on the NHS don’t exactly encourage dentists to take teeth out as a profitable pastime :-)
The thing that’s possibly worrying your dentist is that the mechanism which eats through the bone to allow teeth to erupt into the mouth can sometimes eat away the back of the molar in front of the wisdom tooth, if it’s angled forwards.
Unfortunately this is usually painless until it’s far too late to do anything about it and the patient ends up losing the 2nd molar as well as the wisdom tooth.
The risk of nerve damage is pretty low, especially if they’ve got a CT scan to confirm the position of the nerve in relation to the tooth root.
The fees for tooth extraction on the NHS don’t exactly encourage dentists to take teeth out as a profitable pastime :-)
Looks pretty similar to how mine were on one side. The 2nd tooth had started decaying as it was difficult to clean. I had both out on that side, then a pretty chunky filling on the back of the second tooth.
Is the dentist suggesting doing it themself or sending you to a specialist? I was referred to a specialist as the misaligned tooth isn't an easy extraction so it had to be broken up and removed in pieces. I was impressed at how quickly and comfortably he could do it.
The only issues I had were relating to me not following the instructions for aftercare - I washed my mouth out which stopped the blood clotting properly and sealing the hole left. Apart from that there wasn't anything to worry about.
Is the dentist suggesting doing it themself or sending you to a specialist? I was referred to a specialist as the misaligned tooth isn't an easy extraction so it had to be broken up and removed in pieces. I was impressed at how quickly and comfortably he could do it.
The only issues I had were relating to me not following the instructions for aftercare - I washed my mouth out which stopped the blood clotting properly and sealing the hole left. Apart from that there wasn't anything to worry about.
Thanks for the feedback guys.
My dentist is doing it himself (well the dental surgeon is), under local anesthetic so I'm hoping they don't put up too much of a fight.
After a bit of googling, a few sources suggested that if you remove the lowers, then the uppers may "fall" through a bit more. Is there any argument for removing the uppers at the same time? Mine are fully erupted but are going to be of no use if I don't have any lowers to contact, and as they are so far back I don't always clean them as well as I should.
My dentist is doing it himself (well the dental surgeon is), under local anesthetic so I'm hoping they don't put up too much of a fight.
After a bit of googling, a few sources suggested that if you remove the lowers, then the uppers may "fall" through a bit more. Is there any argument for removing the uppers at the same time? Mine are fully erupted but are going to be of no use if I don't have any lowers to contact, and as they are so far back I don't always clean them as well as I should.
Jasmine1 said:
Thanks for the feedback guys.
My dentist is doing it himself (well the dental surgeon is), under local anesthetic so I'm hoping they don't put up too much of a fight.
After a bit of googling, a few sources suggested that if you remove the lowers, then the uppers may "fall" through a bit more. Is there any argument for removing the uppers at the same time? Mine are fully erupted but are going to be of no use if I don't have any lowers to contact, and as they are so far back I don't always clean them as well as I should.
It sounds like they have got the "pro" in so you should be fine. I had both upper and lower out - I think it's so the remaining tooth can't contact the exposed gum.My dentist is doing it himself (well the dental surgeon is), under local anesthetic so I'm hoping they don't put up too much of a fight.
After a bit of googling, a few sources suggested that if you remove the lowers, then the uppers may "fall" through a bit more. Is there any argument for removing the uppers at the same time? Mine are fully erupted but are going to be of no use if I don't have any lowers to contact, and as they are so far back I don't always clean them as well as I should.
egomeister said:
Looks pretty similar to how mine were on one side. The 2nd tooth had started decaying as it was difficult to clean. I had both out on that side, then a pretty chunky filling on the back of the second tooth.
I had this exact situation. Never had a filing other than the one needed in my 2nd molar as the wisdom tooth was channelling food down below the gumline. I had to have a large filling, and then they had to take the molar out at a specialist place who had to cut (crack) the tooth in half before they could remove it. I'll never forget the sensation in my jaw of a a large tooth being cracked in two by a large pair of pliers. To top if off, the large filling fell out a few weeks ago and the dentist told me to fix it myself due to covid restrictions.
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