Hubby has a wisdom tooth that is growing horizontal into the back of his tooth, we do not have health insurance and we do not know how much this will cost to have it removed. I think as it is close to a nerve and still deep in the bone, he saw a dentist last year who said that it will need to be removed by and oral surgeon when it starts to play up. Which is now, I wonder if anyone can give me an idea of the best way to go about getting this done.
Wisdom tooth or teeth without health insurance - what to do?
bsk on 13/08/2014 - 20:16
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Might aswell go for a holiday to thailand and get it done there, two birds with 1 stone.
This one has gotten good reviews, been planning to get a dental crown there:
http://www.whatclinic.com/dentists/thailand/pattaya/dentist-…
You can even contact them online to see how much they will charge and based on their site, they have a Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon
Uh, just so u know there are likely risks associated with surgery like this.
If your wisdom teeth are in certain areas, its important to get someone very skilled, because there is a small chance a nerve can be severed and you can permanently lose some feeling in the bottom of your lip.
Honestly, if some are still pretty far into your gums, or not come up at all, i'd want an oral/maxillofacial surgeon.
You get what you pay for tho, not worth the risk in my opinion
Not entirely true. Australia is way costly for dental works.
If you know a good surgeon overseas it will be cheaper (depends on flight and accommodation cost). It cost me less than $150 ( around 8000 Rupees Indian currency) in India to removed 4 wisdom tooths. It was around 3 years ago. I removed all 4 tooths at the same time and out of 4 bottom 2 were growing horizontal. The dentist has to call special surgeon to operate 2 of my bottom tooths. The cost mentioned above includes Anesthetist.
Therefore If you have any friends here from Malaysia or Thailand (as closer to Australia), you can ask them for dentist's reference.
If you dont know anyone then the last option is to removed in Australia.
oh dear, so I do not know what options I have
You're better off just paying up..
No point buying Private Health, waiting out the waiting period in agony and then still having to pay a significant gap.I agree with this, I am getting mine out this december. If I remember correctly, it's something like,
Can't remember how much it's going to cost me as a breakdown but it's something like $3000 all up? I actually was going to go to another surgeon, that totaled at about $6500-$7000 just to get my teeth out. So I'm really glad I asked my dentist for another one. It pays to shop around :)Damn! I'm from the UK and it would be cheaper to fly home and get it done there. Probably more trusting of that than the Thai options suggested here. Private insurance for dental here doesn't seem to cover much, there'd still be a huge gap.
Captive market …
Take a holiday to Thailand and get all four of them removed for around $300 each. Will save money in the long term and you (hubby not so much) get to enjoy a holiday in the short term.
That sounds about the same price as plmko who I assume did it in Australia. Better off staying here.
I had a wisdom tooth pulled in Thailand for $60. Dentist was awesome, took 3 hours and was a bit complicated as tooth kept breaking. Had to pull each root out individually as they were hook shaped.
Head massage by assistant complimentary :) Not the best way to start a holiday, but worth the savings.
I have also had most of my fillings done in SE Asia at a cost of about $30 each, plus root canal therapy which took 4 visits over 2 weeks and cost less than a third of what it would have here.
If I needed something major done i would allow atleast 2 weeks, and I would be prepared to go back within 6 months if anything needed attention or to finish a procedure.
I'd rather take the holiday than pay for an Aussie dentists holiday, luxury items or early retitrement.
vodka + pliers, $30
Permanent nerve damage, priceless.
Ask around different docs. Prices vary from 900 to 3000. Could be cheaper for just 1 tooth with local anesthetic.
Pay out of pocket without health insurance. Ask friends for a recommendation to their trusted dentist. OzB is the surefire way to get misled and also get told to go overseas.
Costs vary significantly, as does the skill set of individual dentists. One dentist may recommend referral, another may do it themselves. Depends on difficulty and risk. If more than one person tells you it is a significant risk, don't be stupid and try and skimp out.The surgeon told me that the procedure WILL compromise nerves which affect taste. The skill of the Dr will determine to what extent. At that moment I realised the impermanence of my body and accepted that one day I would die.
If I remember correctly, there is a possibility that it might damage the nerves. You have to sign a document saying that you are aware that you may wake up with damaged nerves/permanently lose feeling in one part of your face. But that's just to cover them in case something goes wrong.
Depending on the results of the x-ray and the possible location of the nerve and root they may send you for special cone beam cat scan. This scan was bulk billed. It's when the use the services of the maxiofacial surgeon and anaethesist that it get's expensive.
This is correct, I had to sign something along those lines too.
if they told you its increadibly likely, it would be crazy to not get a maxillofacial surgeon, unless you really cannot afford it.
I got told this exact thing when I had four out under general. Either I didn't notice, or they are often over cautious.
Happy to PM the deets of the Victorian maxillofacial surgeon if you need, but I had insurance, and they weren't cheap.
Been there, suffered that. On the bright side, I was able to claim more on tax that year because my medical costs were above the safety net.
Second thoughts, it wasn't very much of a bright side. There are much better things to spend money on than the painful removal of left-over teeth. My sympathies.
the medical tax offset is now (13/14) only available to those who claimed it in 2012/13
guess I am leaning toward the overseas option, anyone been there and done it? thanks
I am against doing it overseas. The sanity standards aren't the same and if something goes wrong lets be honest you are probably screwed… I don't know the cost of having it done here but a mate of mine had to have emergency surgery on a Sunday for his teeth and it cost him a lot.
I am also a big fan of having private health insurance. It isn't that expensive and when something goes wrong you know you are usually covered. Same with ambo insurance.
Sanity standards?
We are talking teeth, not brain .Sanitary standards are fine if you go to a good surgery - not all of them use chisels on the street.
I know that and I am not saying that but my main point is that any surgery can have complications. If you are in Thailand and something goes wrong sorting things out could be much harder compared to here.
Maybe you should research some of the dental hospitals in Bangkok. The ones that cater to westerners (medical tourism) are like palaces with highly trained staff and they look and feel like private hospitals. This is a well known thing once you start to research into it.
They are basically dental complexes situated in what could be a really nice hotel rather than street clinics.http://www.dentalhospitalbangkok.com/
Most the dentists in Australia (that don't charge more than 200 per simple drill and fill) are in dingy offices where the dentist seems more interested in talking to the hygienist about the footy scores, with equipment form the 80s and only a few staff are on hand at any given time.
If you ever need work done that's more than a few fillings, it's cheaper and safer to go overseas (with travellers insurance).
Also you said you are a big believer in private health for dental and I was until I had a huge gap payment for a root canal + crown. Private health insurance is great for hospital stays or elective surgeries where you want the best possible surgeon, but not so much for the 'extras' like dental which will have a big gap payment.
Much cheaper and better to do dental work OS with travellers insurance. Also get a holiday out of it.
Anything that involves going into cutting into sterile tissues has significant issues if proper infection control isn't followed.
I do this on a daily basis and although complication rates are very low, they can be severe. Infections at the back of the throat are airway issues = can be life threatening.
@c0balt: Yes, my wife has had to have wisdom teeth out, root canals, crowns, etc of the last 5 years or so. Even with a fairly expensive health insurance plan she still pays more than half the cost for each procedure.
At least in australia if it says dentist outside you know they at least have a degree.
There's a very high number of people in Asia having Hep A, B or even C and this can be transmitted through bodily fluids and also medical instruments not sterilised properly so yes even though we're talking teeth the risks of getting either of the above can still be risky. So you might be getting more than you bargained for going in for dental work, you can walk out with Hep A, B or C.
|We are talking teeth not brain
The ignorance is astounding with this one…
Malaysia, Singapore, go for the famous hospital, dental services.
air asia or scoot cost around 200 return
source for the 200 return pls
Special ended…… current 23rd of Nov tiger will take you from Perth to KL for 301 dollars.
I went to Indonesia last year (bali, lombok and jakarta) and done my teeth in jakarta, I am happy like bird…$100 each teeth, the dentist place like palace.
i had my wisdom tooth taken out last year in Shanghai for $150.00, was a bit worried but i am glad i did was quick and painless. had it checked when i got home here and my dentist was surprised the cost but even with the flight and expenses was much cheaper then if i did it here was quoted 3000-6000 but really depends on the position of your tooth i guess.
Its also a benefit if you go with a friend that is a local.
Heard friend's kid will have all 4 wisdom removed this week as uninsured for $1800 in syd west.
The "best way" varies and depends on individual's need/expectation/situation:
1. can't afford to pay
2. don't want to pay
3. expect to pay but at lowest price possible.
4. happy to pay a fair price for good surgeon
5. "money is no object. find me the best maxillo oral surgeon." etcmy thought on each of these:
1. dental hospital in your capital city
2. same as above. wait till emergency.
3. Don't mind trouble, more discomfort for a lower price.
a. avoid posh suburb. tell doctor you have no insurance and little spare money.
b. if bottom two are horizontal. top two are vertical. see specialist to quote four as well as two removed. see how much difference if having general dentist to remove the vertical ones. I did that (still a student)!
c. sedation can be free hundreds cheaper than GA. I paid sedation and fell asleep all the way through.
4. do operation as normal, tell doctor "have tight budget as to pay rent and school fees".
5. go whoever - check surgeon and hospital's profile.Personally, would avoid overseas. There are excellent surgeons overseas. However, any operation can have risk of complication and patient's dependent. No one would like to fix mess left by somebody else…and the distance.
Comfort level/complication rate can correlate with number of case done. Personally, I want to know the surgeon I can trust and not all on price. Expensive does not equal to better surgeon. Suburb dependent.
If you do bargain, just remember not to ask your surgeon "Doctor, how long does it take for me to recover? I have to travel overseas in two weeks time."
**Please make your own decision based on your own research, as this is my personal experience/view and NOT a medical advice.
I went with option 5 although given my circumstances there was only two choices. My second option was join the list at the dental hospital in Melbourne, wait list apparently 6-12 months.
This is probably the best comment I have read in this post. I think the "No one would like to fix mess left by somebody else" is a really important leave behind here. Really take care in your decision making. Teeth and nerves are not an area I think should be risked for a bargain.
Cheaper and safer to do them with only local anaesthetic.
they tend to be a whole lot more delicate as well. I had my 4 removed in the chair and there was no bruising or swelling
I had all of mine taken out while I was under. The swelling lasted a week, with multiple people telling me to cut back on foods because I was becoming obese! I remember waking up and not being able to open my mouth more than a cm without pain. Then again I have MASSIVE compared to my body size.
The reason an oral and maxilla facial surgeon is recommended is becuse there are some very useful nerves in and around the face. It may well be done in the surgeon' s rooms and not in hospital depending on the general health of yr husband.
If possible, don't leave it too long if you can afford it sooner.
Useful is an understatement. The use of your tongue, the use of your lips, your ability to speak normally, all quite important in life. You don't even think about it until you sign the form stating you understand the risks of the surgery. I had what they deemed highly risky nerve location in relation to the teeth roots. This problem is only for the bottom teeth bear in mind. The top teeth are assessed in relation to your sinuses.
Ask around people locally to see who they used. Get a few quotes.
My daughter(18) managed to get all four wisdom teeth removed for free from the local public hospital (including sedation). She does have a health care card though.
University dental clinics are worth checking out too.
University dental clinics will not touch complicated cases like this. They'll refer you off to a maxfac/oral surgeon.
If you can access a University Dental Hospital/School/Clinic it is very worth it. You may have to wait a little bit longer for the initial consultation but after that they usually get through the client waiting list fairly fast.
The reason I'm really posting though is to encourage you not to wait for ages in pain with a horizontal growing tooth. Mine was like that and I waited so long it cracked a nearby tooth with the pressure. Shop around for the best price, but don't sacrifice the rest of your dental health over it.
OPTION 1 … go overseas, thialand seems the closest and cheapest and have a holiday into the bargain for the same $$$
OPTION 2 … wait until it lands you in hospital emergency and get it for free
OPTION 3 … if you have healthcare card contact your STATE dental scheme & remember YOUR IN PAIN & get it for FREE
OPTION 4 … shop around get a quote and pay outright, some over payment schemes (as do the laser eye clinics FYI)
OPTION 5 … get HOSPITAL & EXTRAS insurance and wait 12 months as its complex dental and none will waive this & you will have a GAP, a large gap that will make you wonder why you bothered, or such a high premium paying outright would have been cheaper!Now I'm a BIG fan of EXTRAS, per sonly recommend everyone have basic BUPA YOUNG EXTRAS $16, AHM LIFESTYLE $35 or TOP with BUPA or MEDIBANK at around $60-70 p/m… But that won't cover you if you need to do it in hospital so then you can't just get away with extras and need health insurance… so add another $60-150 a month depending on plan and excess, then factor in GAP between what they all pay and the total cost after claiming….
So extras & hospital say $120 (assuming no loading on hospital and gov max rebate) x12 = $1440+GAP dental & hospital (dentist and anathaist) might be as much again!
I get my dental done in Vietnam, way cheaper than Thailand.
Last trip I had 2 fillings and teeth scrape and polish for under $10aud.
East Meets West Dental Clinic Da Nang is a good one and highly recommended by expats in the area.I'm moving to Vietnam… I hate ridiculous prices in Aus.
I don't think it's worth risking your health :/ I personally wouldn't go there but to each their own
I used to have extras cover for glasses and contact lenses, but since there are so many cheap places online nowadays, I cancelled it a couple of years ago. Late last year, my second last wisdom tooth started playing up and I had to see a dentist. He also told me the same thing, it's close to the nerve, deep in the bone, etc etc. So unless your hubby had an x-ray done and his dentist is certain that he has to go to a surgeon, don't believe everything they say. I had my x-ray, and yes, it was stuck side-ways and deep into the bone (and the dentist has to cut into the bone in order to remove the tooth), but he still did it nonetheless. I quickly rejoined my extras with AHM just before the removal because they didn't have a waiting period, and I think in total I paid about $200 out of pocket. It's a good idea to get extras cover, because the dentist will ask you to do a clean, and usually the first consultation they won't do the removal because they need to check everything, so if you have extras, you can claim all those. Also make sure you check with the dentist what antibiotics he's prescribing after the treatment, mine gave me e-mycin and I was in and out of hospital emergency for the next 3 days because my stomach won't take it.
If you have a health care card, you can do it at the student clinics, I had my first two removed when I was a student for $15 each I think.
When my wisdom teeth started erupting my dentist asked me what date was good for me to have them extracted. I asked him why he had already concluded that I needed them extracted. He told me that they would cause all kinds of problems, yada yada yada…
3 years later I am the proud owner of 4 perfectly healthy fully erupted wisdom teeth.
My god, SAME! I had braces when I was stupidly young (12) as I already had all my adult teeth. They already saw my wisdom teeth in all the xrays so they knew they'd erupt later on but the dentist/orthodontist said I'd simply have the wisdom teeth removed because it looked like they'd cause an overcrowding problem.
They started erupting when I was 17 or 18. They hurt like hell, most days I was dizzy with pain and drugged up on codeine throughout my HSC. Same dentists were insisting I get them removed asap (gave my a scary list of bad shit that would happen if I kept them) but I am vain and didn't want to show up at school with blackened cheeks, or worse, miss out on school to recover (exam time).
So I pushed through the pain. They were all coming up vertically and properly.
I'm 26 now. Still got them all. No issues whatsoever. lol all teeth living in harmony.
Not everyone can push through the pain for 7-8 years. Well done though!
lol nah, the pain only lasted a month or two.
everyone is not so luck, and most of the time they are remove due to poor hygiene around the wisdom teeth which will decay and cause problems in the future.
My dentist mentioned that.
You just need to brush and floss back there as well as your other teeth.
I haven't ever had a cavity. I think a healthy diet and lifestyle helps too.
I left mine too long, wisdom caused top back molar to break, now I am also minus one molar.
I had to have all four wisdom teeth removed, all were growing the wrong way, a friend of mine that is in china organised me a good dentist there, so I took two weeks off work for a holiday, flight cost $700 and hostel was only $4 a day, I had two teeth taken out the day I arrived and two the next week, make sure you bring some panadole and they will either give you normal antibiotics or put you on a drip, go for the drip because your body will also need it after the flight etc, but for the total cost of $1300 I had a good two week holiday and all four wisdom teeth removed and the dentist here quoted me $4200
and what would you have done if you got home and got terrible infections?
I imagine go to a local GP and get prescribed something for the infection, antibiotics most likely.
Had mine done in Taiwan. Did all three at the same time while I was awake. Cost about 180 per tooth. I'm happy with the results.
Had one of mine pulled that was infected and causing me severe pain (as in please kill me now type) my denist pulled it out for roughly 300 took just over an hour with a local. If its out and visible im sure it could be done without going under but it could be your roots are wrapped around the nerves then I wouldnt risk it as having half your face paralyzed would not be the best outcome.
please pm me and we can chat if your in sydney. im a dentist and work with a local dentist that removes 8s. cost around 300 for lower each, if you want sedation its 650 (250 you get back from medicare).
like most have said around 1200 + sedation or just 1200 in the chair depending on how hard they are etc.
good luckMy friend told me about this company - http://www.smile.com.au/
It's just dental cover and allows you to get a discount off the total of the procedure using one of their dentists.Had this done a few years ago, all 4 went out while i was under.
I went private and cost me all up 400 to 500 but adding the bills up that my health insurance got and what medicare covered too was near on 2000, unfortunately my teeth are dense and took longer to get out also was in hospital for about 8 hours rather then the 1 hour that all others had.
non the less it was painful and was getting bad breath from the gums that where inflamed.
$50 each in China for horizontal, never did left and right at the same time, otherwise u can't eat.
wow. this sounds like a bargain.
Serious question, why do you not have health insurance?
For me its because I have always had a far better result self insuring and using public.
Last operation I had I was admitted fast, had a private room to myself for 2 days and healed well.
My mother works for a health fund with top cover and I have had better results than her for a lot less cost.
She picked up a staph infection at her private hospital.
Plus I hate to think how much she has shelled out over her lifetime.Going overseas is an option as you get a free holiday in the process, but consider what kind of holiday it would be. Have the treatment early in the 1 to 2 week break and you're going to spend your holiday recovering from the operation. Where is the fun in that? Enjoy the holiday first and then get the treatment right at the end means you're counting on the procedure being done perfectly with no follow up checkups.
On the slim chance that something goes seriously wrong with the procedure you can't sue the doctor. Try launching legal action in Thailand while in Australia and see how far you get.
Have you considered medical tourism ? It will less than $100 in south-east Asia.
Got mine done at my local dentist. Two of my left ones costs around $1000. Basic health insurance covered around 300 and I paid the rest.
Go to your local council.
If you have concession card then it's free.The UQ Dental Hospital in Brisbane has quoted me $98 for removal of each wisdom tooth. The initial consultation was $40 with Xrays I believe. One of mine are Horizontally impacted but not close to the bone. The inspection was done by a student, but the work will be done by dentists at the Hospital.
i was just thinking this actually.
You need to be careful with Xrays though, they always recommend xrays and they're costly. A dentist doesn't need an xray to know a tooth needs to come out.All my x-rays were bulk billed.
they need to know how it would come out… like if theres heaps of roots or they funny looking under the bone, might not come out straight in one piece. they might have to cut it into pieces to get it out.
i didn't say 'a dentist doesn't need an xray to know how a tooth needs to come out'
I said 'a dentist doesn't need an xray to know a tooth needs to come out.Two very different things
@tohara: My understanding is that wisdom teeth are more complicated. My post says $40 with X-rays included btw. This was a whole mouth X-ray and check up, so it was pretty comprehensive.
I have had two wisdom teeth that had to come out due to poor hygiene causing the teeth to decay, very painful.
One was so decayed it was considered surgical due to the fact that they had to cut the gum,
The other was an easy extraction, came right out. both under local anestheticI believe the surgical extraction was $700ish and the regular extraction was $500ish.
I had fillings done in SE Asia and was not a good experience at all, I was given no anesthetic, I think the doctor was a sadist.
"I had fillings done in SE Asia and was not a good experience at all, I was given no anesthetic, I think the doctor was a sadist".
Depends who you see.
I had teeth drilled and filled in SE Asia as stated above.
It was the most gentle dental experience I have ever had, my experiences in Australia have been the worst, even when drugged to the eyeballs.
I needed root canal in a week's notice a couple of years ago. Didn't have private medical cover and checked with all the major ones - they had 1 yr waiting period.
I called iSelect and those guys found me a medical cover (www.health.com.au) that did not have any waiting period for root canals! Ended up just paying the gap which was like $500 (i think).
Please check with Health.com.au if they will cover sergical tooth removal straightaway. Otherwise, call iSelect and ask them to find something with no waiting period.
You can also try meercat/wombat comparing website. They constantly show those stupid ads on telly :)
The last resort would be to go to the Dental Clinic of any university/college. If you're in Melbourne, go to Melbourne Uni Dental clinic - it just around the University tram stop on Elizabeth St in the city. one of my relos got a tooth removed there a few years back for free or a nominal amount of fees.
Best of luck!
Am dental student:
Two options
Leave it, sometimes if it does not break through the gums, no infection/decay/problems will occur.
Get it removed by specialist (really shouldn't take the risk to get it done by general dentist). If you want to save money, do not get it done under general anaesthesia (adds like $600 per tooth). Get it pulled under local, it will cost you 500-600 per tooth. They are also a lot more gentle, i.e. less swelling and pain after, if you do it under local.
Close to the nerve so probably shouldn't get it done by a student either, even if the uni lets them do it.
If horizontal and impact to a molar, can the wisdom be pulled under local in majority of the cases?
Yes, just got to cut the tooth up in pieces and jiggle it out like a piece of a puzzle.
Yep, they just cut the gums, bone then the tooth. The general anesthesia is only for comfort, not much else.
Too terrified to be awake for this! Hoping to go under for root canal too.
The standard Ozbargain response:
Bikies!
…the trouble is, they usually only take out your front teeth.
To knock out first without drug.
or an ice skate blade and a rock, to take a leaf out of Tom Hanks book
Wife had four wisdom teeth taken out in Melbourne Uni dental school under the govt system. I think it cost us 100 dollars. She has a health care card though. No complaints about the procedure. They did not give her painkillers even though i asked but it was not a big problem because we went to our gp here and she gave her some.
Same stories with me 3 years ago, I managed to get Smile.com.au and get significant discount on selected dentist. Get my teeth out no problem for less than $500 include yearly fee for this. i dont know how much their scheduled fees now.
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Needs to be removed by a surgeon as stated. Costed me $1250 + $350 for Anesthetist 5 years ago without insurance, cam't imagine it will be much more today.