beckiwoo

That seems reasonable and I would be more then happy to pay that ( even cheaper then NHS charges) but as you said that is 20% of the overall cost.

The removal of wisdom teeth is extoriate. All that money for all that pain. I've had two out so far (which cost nothing as on NHS) but I have refused to have any more taken out due to pain and hassle regardless of cost/ no cost.

The thought of a $1500 bill will just make go down to pharmacy and stock up on pain killers.

MarkG

Worst pain I had with mine was when the stitches they'd wrapped around the back tooth came out. They were really irritating the gums before then.

scrubbedexpat091

I'd say they are more the exception then the rule. I'd never bet on having benefits in a low wage job.

Almost Canadian

I had a upper wisdom tooth removed. My dentist did it for a fee of $50 (80% coverage with insurance) IIRC.

SchnookoLoly

For wisdom tooth removal, it depends on the reason to decide whether or not the pain and cost is worth it. In my case, my mouth is a mess. My teeth are two sizes larger than my jaw, which means my teeth are crammed in together and came in all crooked. I had a retainer for a year to bring my teeth broadly in line, then braces for two and a half years, then a night retainer for about three years.

I have permanent retainers on my top and bottom teeth, and prior to wisdom teeth, I had five teeth removed to simply make room in my overcrowded jaw.

When my wisdom teeth tried to come in, it was all manner of hell. They didn't have room. They put pressure on my other molars and I had a constant dull pain in my mouth.

Two wisdom teeth were impacted, two were partially out but stuck. Full general anaesthetic surgery when I was 18 to have them removed. Sucked for about a week, proper chipmunk cheeks and smoothies and soup, but once I healed the pain was gone. No regrets.

My husband has never had issues with his wisdom teeth in the past, but two never grew in fully, stopped about halfway. Both the dentist and oral surgeon here have recommended that he have them removed to avoid infection in the future. He's having them out under local anaesthetic in about six weeks. He only has two anyway.

So it's not just for kicks, sometimes there's actual reason for it.

iaink

The tendency here is to remove them as a default. In the UK I think its more normal to extract them only if there are actual clear symptoms to indicate that they should go.

At $1K a pop its no surprise the profession is in favour of early removal here. The Mercedes dealers have reason to thank those employers that still offer decent health benefits

scrubbedexpat091

My wisdoms came in okay, and while they don't cause serious pain, they have caused some front teeth to push forward and sometimes the pressure is uncomfortable, but dentist says otherwise no reason to pull them.

R I C H

I don't know of any of the small privately held businesses (20+) where I live that offer medical plans to their employees.

sharkus

So far (knock on wood) my local dentist has been great. First couple of visits, which were probably about 8 years from last having seen a dentist, resulted in a couple of fillings.
We then discussed everyone's favourite topic, wisdom teeth.

They could see the top two were not in great shape, couldn't see one of the lower ones. I was sent off to the x-ray place a few doors down to get some 3D x-ray and then off to a dental surgeon for a referral.

He was a great chap, very friendly. We agreed that the top two and the impacted one had to come out, and so why not do them all at once and save of repeat surgery and of course cost. Made sense to me!

I had deep sedation, and I was a little freaked out about it, as I've never been "under" before, but it was actually a pleasant experience, and I'd highly recommend it if you don't do pain and such. I remember my mum telling me about having her wisdom teeth out and it wasn't the best experience in the world.

As for cost, think it was around $1300 - $1400, insurance picked up all but around $100 of it. If we didn't have insurance I would likely have thought twice about it, but with insurance, well, it'd be a bit daft not to do it.

Cookie

That's one reason they tend to remove them here. They often cause over-crowding and can push straight teeth out of alignment and cause damage. It's not unusual to have one or more impacted wisdom teeth so they tend to remove all 4.

Both my sons were sedated and weren't nearly as funny as this kid

SchnookoLoly

LOLOL. That kid is basically what I was like. I love his dad. "Okay." "Okay." "Okay." Mom is trying to be more understanding ("Yes, honey, I'll try not to hit the unicorn"), but Dad is clearly just going "dafuq...". Brilliant!

When I woke up from the anaesthetic, I had a moment of "uh, where am I..." then the nurse helped me into the recovery room, where I came down with an uncontrollable case of the giggles. Just could not stop giggling. Mom just stared at me with a great "wtf" look on her face.

I laid down on the recovery bed and just kept giggling to myself. And then drooling all over my face and the pillow.

Then I tried to sit up, and then started sobbing. Like, proper waterworks. I wasn't in pain, I wasn't upset, but I was crying and it would just. not. stop.

Mom is going "Loly, are you ok, are you ok?!" and I'm nodding yes, but continuing to sob. The nurse looks over her shoulder and goes "oh, yeah, the drugs make people inexplicably emotional. Give her 5 minutes, she'll be alright" and went back to doing what she was doing.

So after a few minutes I did get a hold of myself. Then in my drugged up state I thought it would be cool to ask if I could keep my wisdom teeth (?), so I tried to ask... not realizing that I had ZERO feeling in my mouth, so what ended coming out was just some unintelligble sounds and a whole load of drool down my front. Classy.

I had a moment of panic where I realised I couldn't actually communicate, so I started sobbing again.

Finally the nurse did manage to put together though my snot, drool, and broken sign language that I wanted to keep my teeth, prompting "you freak" from my Mom, more tears, and then me stumbling out of the recovery room to the car.

Good times.

dishwashing

No gloves ewww

On this topic, anyone recommend a vancouver based dentist? Pm me if easier!

scrubbedexpat091

If my coverage covered their removal, I'd bet the dentist would have said to remove them, but wisdom teeth are not covered by ether the dental cover I have through the province or MSP, so for now they stay.

Gozit

Dentists in Canada - they do a great job (mine wears gloves !!! and office is not open plan - change your dentist OP) but are expensive, not covered by provincial health cover, and yes like to remove things to get $$ out of you. I'm looking forward to living where dentistry is covered under my government health cover.

Good times indeed. I had a laugh reading that

As for my wisdom teeth I really hope they don't decide to cause issue before I turn 18, because unless I absolutely NEED them out, ie they cause me pain or will get infected like Schnooks husband, I don't want to consent to them being removed. If it aint broke, don't fix it. And if I don't need to, i'd rather not go under anaesthetic and be holed up for a week only eating soup and smoothies.

izzi81

I've yet to go to a dentist in Canada (the cost is putting me off) but I have been to a hygienist who I was very impressed by. Took a lot more time and did a much better job than any I've seen in the UK.
I know when I see a dentist here they are going to want to pull my wisdom teeth. My bottom 2 are impacted, have been for 10 years or so. My UK dentist, who was very good, said there's no way she'd remove them as they're partially in my jawbone. But I gather here they really want to take them out. I get a bit of pain now and then but I can live with it.... I had some really poor dental treatment 3 years ago which caused a whole lot of problems thanks to his ineptitude so I avoid anything substantial unless it's completely necessary!