Have Your Child Had the Wisdom Teeth Extracted?

I had all 4 of mine removed when I was 20, and all 4 were impacted. It was the first and only time I've ever had general anesthesia. I'm glad I got them all out at once. The healing just took a few days. No drinking through straws, as that could give him a "dry socket," and soft foods only for the first few days.

I had braces in Jr high. Had all 4 wisdom teeth removed when i was 21. Uppers had broken through and lowers were impacted. It did mess my teeth up a little bit but not much. My hubby's wisdom teeth never came in and he is 35!!! I would say do all 4 now, it was horrible trying to take care of myself and go to work several days later!!

S.

Have them all out at the same time. Since you indicated that your son has had braces, let me tell you how wisdom teeth CAN and DO impact what beautiful work the braces did. I got my braces off when I was 14-ish. I stopped wearing my retainers when I was 16 (big mistake on my part!) but my orthodontist warned me that my wisdom teeth HAD to be taken out or my teeth would be ruined. Well, when I was 18-ish, my wisdom teeth began budding and I thought they were worth keeping UNTIL I noticed that my teeth began moving forward. By then my retainers no longer fit and my beautiful teeth looked like buck teeth. I got my wisdom teeth pulled but the forward movement had already been done and I opted for braces a second time in my 20's. It is not that big a deal to have them all out at once. I hope my testimony helps.

Do all four at same time. Really not bad at all. Do it on a Friday so this way he has the weekend to recover.

I had mine removed at 19 and if they did not do all four at the same time I would have NEVER gone back for the others. Do them all at once that way there is only one recovery!!!!

I had all 4 of mine taken out at once, before they were impacted (the dentist could tell from the x-rays that there wasn't going to be enough room for them, so they were taken out as a preventative measure, rather than because of impaction).

Anyway, my advice is to go to a good oral surgeon to have them taken out, rather than having the dentist do it. Oral surgeons are trained to remove teeth with as little impact as possible, and without cutting any nerves. Also, a surgeon can put your son totally under (rather than just using laughing gas or whatever - everyone I know who has only had laughing gas had an awful time!). I had an oral surgeon remove mine, and was up and about the following day with little to no swelling or pain. It was really not a bad experience at all for me.

I would absolutely get them all done at once. I had 2 impacted and 2 not and yanked them all. IMO, if some need to come out, it's one trip, one trauma, one recovery period. My SD had all hers out. My SS kept all his (he has a big mouth). Those teeth are also hard to clean.

Make sure your son has food that is very soft - broth, smoothies, mashed potatoes - and takes his meds on schedule, but gets off the heavy stuff as quickly as is tolerable. My SD was 15 (her teeth are 2 years ahead of her age) and she did fine.

I would get them all out at once, way easier. Plus, doing it now could save trouble later. My sister had braces, and then later her wisdom teeth started coming in and they pushed her teeth so now they are no longer straight.

I had all four removed when I was 13 years old. One of my best friends has all of hers still there at 35y.o. One Dentist told her to cut them all out, the other showed her in the x-rays why there was no need to remove them. For me personally, and this is just my opinion, I am not one to remove something that hasn't proven to be a problem. I still have my tonsils, gull bladder, etc still for this very reason :o) I had dry sockets and that was painful. I don't know that it really matters how old you are when it is done as far as "safety" is concerned, never heard of that. But then again,I am no dentist! Good luck!

I had mine all done at the same time because I thought if I had any problems, I would not go back to get the other two out. It really wasn't a problem.

I had them done at his age. Wisdom teeth are painful when they are impacted and not coming in correctly. I had all 4 this way, and had to have them out. And I have a smaller mouth so they hurt even more.

YES get them all out at once if you ask me. It's much easier this way, and it would be terrible to have to do this all again.

Make sure he listens to the doctor about care afterwards about rinsing etc. He does not want to get dry socket.

Questions you could ask him are: How long for recovery? And if he still being in school will he miss any? (I had to miss a few days due to how mine were removed etc)

Making the healing process go faster, rinsing again is important, and make sure there are foods he can eat. Soft ones like applesauce, ice cream, Popsicle, yogurt, and soups.

Best wishes!

Both my older daughters had wisdom teeth and additional molars removed for braces. Get all the teeth removed at the same time and choose a good oral surgeon to do it. Make sure you follow all the instructions from the oral surgeon during the recovery period. Get everything in writing (they usually have after care sheets they'll give you that spell everything out) because you won't remember it all. The only thing I'll recommend is to make sure your son's pain is controlled because pain equals additional stress which will impede the body's healing.

Oh, absolutely get all 4 out at a time. The bottom ones are the harder ones anyway. It won't make it any easier to not take out the top ones, and if they start causing problems, your son will rue the day he didn't do it all at one fell swoop.

And no, the wisdom teeth won't do your son any good.

Both of my son's have had theirs removed. Thank goodness it's over for us! Please read on the computer about how best to prevent dry socket. Stay on your son during his recovery to get him to do exactly what the surgeon says, including to make sure he DOESN'T do anything that he shouldn't. He does NOT want dry socket.

Oh, and I agree with Hell on Wheels - get an oral surgeon. Don't have the regular dentist do it.

All four of my wisdom teeth were impacted and all were extracted together. I would have absolutely have hated to have to go back and have two recovery periods. also, I would not want my child to have anesthesia twice either.

so here's MY rule of thumb....................why would you remove something "JUST IN CASE"? Silly I know but would you have a hysterectomy after you are done having ll your children because it's easier when you are younger? OK I'll stop being silly but let's look at it this way..................tooth extraction=$$$

I had all 4 removed at one time.
By an Oral Surgeon.
It was fine.
You cannot make the healing process faster or not... each person is different in how they heal.
It really is not that bad.
I had impacted teeth too.
It was, fine.
I didn't even feel any pain.
And after, you can take Advil or something. BUT the Oral Surgeon will inform you of these things.

Just do it all at one time.
Why go back again to remove more?

And, instead of just getting an Orthodontist's opinion, ask the Dentist and/or the Oral Surgeon, IF all of them have to be removed.

I had all four of mine extracted in my early 20's, three were impacted. I would definitely have them all done at once, as I would not want to have to go through it twice! For me it was worse than childbirth. I took an entire week off work.

I had 3 of my wisdom teeth removed when I was 17 because they were impacted. I was fine. It was a little painful after the anethesia wore off but I only took pain meds for a few days........... and this was 40 years ago. They said I didn't have a 4th one. They were wrong. I had that removed when I was 27. Better to do them all at once.

I don't want to scare you BUT make sure the Oral Surgeon uses a sterile needle.

My daughter just spent 8 days in the hospital after getting her wisdom teeth pulled.

We are not exactly sure how it happened but she got a deep life threatening infection. Due to how deep the infection was, the only thing they can think of is that the needle was not sterile.

The oral surgeon also did not look in her mouth after she complained of major pain. She had the surgery on a monday. All week she had a lot of pain. She went back to his office on saturday due to excruciating pain. He had his assistant look in her mouth and put some herbs on the incision to numb it, he never even looked in her mouth!!! By monday she was in ER then admitted to hospital.

The infection traveled down, and we were told it was one fascial plane to her heart.

I agree that your son should have all four done at once. Go to an oral surgeon that is recommended by someone you know. Don't look at online reviews either!!! Most importantly, if he has pain for more than a couple days, insist that he gets looked at and if necessary get on an antibiotic immediately.

I had a wonderful experience with the oral surgeon who did mine. By the next day I was up with my 6 month old and 15 month old.

Best wishes
FKA Momof4

not everyone needs to have their wisdom teeth taken out. I still have mine and do not have any problems with it. I think if they are impacted or if he is in pain or having problems then he should have them taken out, but if he is only having problems with 2 of them, then there is no reason to take out the good teeth too. Seems like your dentist is trying to get more money from you!

All 4 at once. I had all 4 of mine out in my mid-twenties and my daughter had hers out at age 19. My bottoms were impacted, tops were ok but would eventually have to have been pulled. I told the oral surgeon that I would rather be good and miserable once rather than go through all that twice!!!!! I takes about 4 days to really get feeling good again. My daughter did have a "dry socket" on the 3rd day (the blood clot in the hole comes out, similar to picking the scab off a cut) which prolonged her recovery by an additional couple of days. I don't know of any way to make it heal faster; just follow the oral surgeon's instructions on what to eat and how to care of the gums and take the pain meds as prescribed (can usually switch to OTC after a couple of days).