Wisdom Teeth?? - Minneapolis,MN

My 14 year old daughter has 2 bottom wisdom teeth pulled last week. They were impacting the roots of the 2nd molars and might have killed those, and one of those had to come out since it was impacted itself (growing at a weird angle). The wisdom teeth were not yet out, so it was considered surgery, which our health insurance covered with a copay. The total bill was $2,500 which included anesthesia for 45 minutes and a gaggle of other itemized charges.
But if the teeth are out of the gums and it is truly just "pulling" the charge should be a lot less.
My daughter was not happy to have it done, but it was not painful. She got local novocaine on top of the overall anesthesia (although they did not breathe for her, so perhaps it is called sedation, since anesthesia involves a breathing machine and blood level checks, etc. They only measured EKG, blood pressure and oxygen level continuously. It was done in an office not the hospital). Her mouth was numb from 11 to 7 PM, so the only way she could eat was with a mirror to see where her mouth was, lol! Only soft foods the first day, normal after that. She took 600 mg of ibuprofen around the clock for 48 hours to prevent swelling and help with pain, as well as 10 minutes of ice on the cheeks every hour the first day she had it done, also to prevent swelling. Some ice the next day as well. After the surgery day when you cannot brush or rinse, she started rinsing with salt water to prevent infection. If there is a hole where a tooth was pulled, then it might fill with food and you will get a curved syringe to clean that out, but probably only a week later - they want the scab to form and heal first.
My daughter came out of anesthesia giggling, she found everything hilarious, and then laughed until tears ran down her cheeks. She kept touching her numb mouth and tongue and chin, and would laugh hysterically around the cotton rolls in her cheeks. She looked funny too!
Hope all goes well and costs are covered. Oh, and my daughter went to a sleep over 2 days later, and Anime Boston 5 days later. She was pain free after about 3 days and stopped taking the ibuprofen.

i have had three out in the last two years, and about to get the last one out soon. They just rubbed some orajel on my gums first, then they gave me the shot. The dentist used a ice pick looking instrument(not exagerating on what it looked liked) and some how wiggled the tooth out with the ice pick. My last one though was the killer. the roots were growing sideways in the jaw bone so it took extensive work to get that out! they had to split my gums open, shave the jaw bone down, drill the tooth into two pieces then cut it again just to get it out. the reason i am telling you this is because sometimes when dealing with the wisdom teeth it came get quite complicated! my upper wisdom teeth roots were in my sinus cavity! my insurance covered the procedures so i;m not sure what they cost. I never got the gas or put to sleep.( to much of a wennie lol) I hate going to going to the dentist and the oral surgeon but it has to be done. good luck.

Similar to teenmom below, my wisdom teeth were extracted and our health insurance paid for it because it was done by an oral surgeon and I was under general anesthesia at the time (something to think about if you don't have the best dental insurance!). I had all 4 done at once before they were impacted, and I was up and around (at the gym, etc) the following day. I had been prepared with a vat of jello to eat, tons of movies ready to watch - I was so ready to spend a week in bed on pain killers, but actually I was fine with just Tylenol. I didn't even swell up. I think my surgeon was probably pretty good, and it helped that the surgery was done before it was necessary due to pain, etc. But all in all, the horror stories that I heard did not prove to be true for me. Hopefully your daughter is as lucky as I was!

I don't recall the cost, but having my wisdom teeth pulled in college was the worst pain of my life. I was awake for the procedure with local numbing and it was awful. No pain, but very weird having pliers and a hand in your mouth yanking teeth out. When I got home, the pain began big-time. Turned out the dentist prescribed a pain medication dosage a fraction of what was normal. It was excruciating, so make sure before you leave the dentist's office that you confirm it is the full dosage of pain medication on the prescription. It's absolutely critical.