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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Hmm I was member long time ago. Seems the fixed price schedule has gone by now.
Bali has a few good dentists but Thailand has some that are trained here in Western Australia.
can't believe you guys are suggesting this poor man to go overseas just for this procedure.
In my case of porcelian crown, crown is many times cheaper in Thailand than what my local dentist quoted:
Australia - 1x Zirconia Full porcelain crown, bit over $4000
Thailand - 1x Zirconia Full porcelain crown, 14000 Thai Baht = $471.94 AUD at the moment
+ Approx $700 for return flight to PhuketI can pay for the treatment plus get a holiday out of it with approx $2.8k spending money if I go to Thailand instead.
Learnt a lot from this thread. A true reflection of different consumer's view in our health system. One conclusion - Australian loves overseas holiday.
A crown improperly done will have horrible margins (edges) and will cause further damage to the tooth (if the dentist didn't fry the tooth in the process of cutting the preparation).
Australia - 1x Zirconia Full porcelain crown, bit over $4000 - rubbish. What utter nonsense.
Thailand - 1x Zirconia Full porcelain crown, 14000 Thai Baht = $471.94 AUD at the moment
+ Approx $700 for return flight to Phuket - causes you to have the tooth removed prematurely. Please include the cost of an implant and a crown. (Perhaps you'll quote $20,000)I wouldn't know anything about this because of legal reasons, I am a pedestrian citizen on the issue of medicine and health on the internet. Read in between the lines, there's free advice to be had.
He speaks the truth, even if the prices are a bit inflated (quite a bit for the implant which should be 6000).
If someone screws up here in Australia, you can go back to the dentist to ask for refund, or report them. In addition, they will provide you support as needed. If someone in a place overseas screws up, they have no accountability and you have no leg to stand on.
In addition, normally no dentist here will fix problems caused by treatment done overseas or continue their treatment, they don't want the trouble of any further potential complications.
If you must go overseas, go somewhere with a bit more regulation like Singapore.
You don't know what your talking about. Yes there is "technically" no refund, but the dentist will give you one anyway because they don't want to be reported.
and if something goes wrong when you get back to aus you are royally f'd. No australian dentist will touch you when they find out you went o/s and if they do they will charge you huge amounts
On the other hand, a few other dentists I called quoted $1200-$2000. So it depends.
Just to remove teeth, i suggest going overseas. But getting bracers would require frequent consultation, so overseas would be bad. I can not say i am an expert. But from my experience with my relatives, they've all done it in singapore malaysia and thailand. Depends on which one you go to, you basically get the exact same treatment in comparison to Australia.
Have a look at http://www.dentacare.com.au/
Like insurance, yearly membership fee ($69)
Discounts instead of cover and you can benefit right after joining.
The fee schedules are out of date but should not be too different now.
looking at the worst case which I assume applies to wisdom tooth:
Surgical removal of a tooth or tooth fragment requiring both removal of bone and tooth division is $320.00I have a very similar tooth. I would suggest getting it done in the chair and a single tooth should not cost you more than $500-700, then each one after that an extra $100 or so. Dentists prices vary widely, shop around. Some of the prices being quoted are absolutely ridiculous. I saw a guy at 5 dock at a place called allegro dental, he also operates out of chatswood. Id go sooner rather than later as I left mine too late and now, after having the second of what were two complicated fillings fail, am now looking at having to have a root canal of the molar in front which had been impacted on by said wisdom tooth. Root canal will be upwards of $1000 each.
Happy hunting, the doctor was Asian, Australian born I presume so I guess Australian trained and seemed very competent for my other wisdom tooth i had removed in the interim while I waited for my private health waiting period to subside for the bad tooth.
Cant remember his name but if u ring and they dont know the guy i could probs rustel it up with some effort.
Cheers
Well just to give you some cost comparison, I had 3 wisdom teeth extracted in June 2014 and it cost me $1040 all up but I had private health insurance and had a GAP payment of $452.40. The cost breakdown of the $1040 was:
Surgical Ext - $350
Surgical Ext - $350
Filling - $180
Extraction - $160This was a dentist in the Brisbane suburbs.
I work for a dentist and we do this procedure all the time. Yes there is a small risk (0.1%)of damaging the nerve but depending on how severe the damage you can just have a numbness feeling in the lower lips for a while or permanently. It doesn't effect movement or taste as its only a sensory nerve not a motor nerve. You can save yourself some monies by having it done in a dental chair under local anesthetic by dental surgeon and only take one or two or all four out depending on which is causing the pain and cost, or get all four out with an oral surgeon under general anesthetic but costs more. There are general dental surgeons that can do this procedure without needing to have it done with an oral surgeon, it just depends on the patient whether they don't mind being awake during the procedure (though they won't feel any pain as its under local anesthetic), or rather being asleep and wake up with all four wisdom teeth extracted. However I won't be recommending getting any sort of medical procedures done overseas, particularly Asia. It might be a lot cheaper but the risk of complications are still there and you've got to remember what happens when you have complications and you're back home already? Medical professionals here don't know what you had done and how it was done or what was used or what was given to you, they don't have your full medical records. And I've seen a lot of cases of these where we have to fix dodgy works done overseas because it was cheap. And this is what they don't tell you when you're getting the work done, the after care process in they have in place in case of complications. Yes it pays to shop around but not as far as Asia, Australian Standards are a lot higher for a very good reason and that's what you're paying for. There's plenty of general dental surgeons that can do this sort of procedure without needing to resort to oral surgeons and you can still save money.
The nerve that is usually wrapped around the roots of the wisdom is the Inferior alveolar nerve. However, if the roots of the tooth is close to the inside surface of the jaw, then it can be very close to the lingual nerve. Lingual nerve supplies taste and sensation to the tongue. So yea, taste can be affected.
http://www.nogapsdental.com/services/wisdom-teeth/
I use a dentist up here in Brisbane that operates on the same principle, no gap payment if you have health insurance. My dentist will only charge the uninsured the payment that he would receive from the heathfund.
Worth a try with these guys or similar no-gappers? Ask for a ballpark figure
Try Singapore. Quality dentists/surgeons. Probably would not have to worry about quality there.
English is the language of business and instruction. First world country, just get your medical records written out and keep it with you in a safe place.If you are worried about quality, I can safely say that dodgy healthcare professionals are extremely rare. The population density, country size and strict regulation means that the bad eggs get weeded out quickly.
Cost of living + competition/how much you can get away with determines the price just as much as quality.
Scoot flies from goldcoast, sydney and perth. (not sure of your state). For scoot its about 400aud return from goldcoast.
If you do not have any health insurance, it may be worth it to do all your routine dental work, health check up + short holiday for that. Probably 1500 AUD for a family including your wisdom tooth extraction, not including flights.
Honestly. if you look hard enough you will find dentists capable and willing to do these impacted lower wisdom teeth for you with a medicare bulk billed OPG and under local anaesthetic. Prices will vary significantly, but can be had often for a fair bit under $500, I won't say how much exactly. If you think you need to go overseas to get this done you guys are out of your minds.
if u have a health care card u maybe able to get it done free at a dental clinic /hospital / student training clinic otherwise go to thailand
No idea on chances of success, but you can access your super for certain medical problems.
Price up your costs here and compare to overseas, a holiday is a great way to recover from oral surgery!
I have have two separate crowns, white fillings, clean from BIDC, http://www.bangkokdentalcenter.com check their reviews, check up is free, clean or filling is next to nothing. They seem to have a separate specialist dentist for crowns, cleaning, fillings, other. Depending on your costs here and if other work is needed, it may be cheaper to go there. I had a wisdom tooth removed locally under local, under $500 from a few years ago. Best get it removed before the tooth in front becomes damaged from stuck food in between the teeth, within a few weeks I suggest.
I am a Dentist in Sydney. Been doing it for 20 yrs and have seen a hell of a lot over that time.
Do it Overseas - potentially come back with Hepatitis B/C, Golden Staff or serious complications that we here may not be able to fix. Can the complications happen here - sure but we will lose our license if our Infection Control/Cleanliness is not up to scratch.
I had a patient recently (2 yrs ago)spend $3500 in Thailand at a "reputed" international surgery in Thailand with a "US Trained" Dentist. When she came to see me with complications, I investigated this "Dentist" - He dropped out of University after 1st year! Also she has spent nearly $20,000 with me over the 2 yrs trying to fix the problem that would have cost her $8500 to fix if she had come to me originally.
Look, I don't know you or where you are - I've got enough patients to see me to retirement
Think about it - see someone local with a good reputation. If you do have complications, at least you have someone to ring and try and help you with it.
If you do choose to go Overseas, you are quite literally taking your life and putting it in the hands of someone who is supposedly "trained"
I agree. I had my wisdom teeth extracted in Australia and had a number of complications, due to no fault of the surgeon. I felt comfortable because I was in Australia and could access the surgeon and other recommended specialists easily, I would have been very upset and worried if this was all happening overseas.
My mother and my father in law have both had staph infections in Australian Hospitals, my mother also has a botched operation that has plagued her for 20 years.
Both have private health cover, so don't try and make out Australia is the be all and end all in health care.At least with many Asian hospitals you can see who is doing the work and see their qualifications and where they were trained, something you cant do in Australia
Australia:
Who is doing the work- the dentist of course, i assume you would have their name
Qualifications- dental degree or they can't practice
Where they are trained- written on the door as letters after their name or as a certificate on their wall.
Some of the advice on here ranges from ignorant to self serving. NEVER assume anything regardless of whether it's Australia or Asia. Plenty of shonky operators in Aus as well. The 'Our standards are far better than anywhere else' rubbish is just that.
I wouldn't get it done anywhere with blind trust. At the same time I'm more than confident to get it done for the fraction of the cost in Asia provided that I have researched the crap out of the practice. Spending eg 10hrs researching a reputable practitioner is nothing compared to the thousands you'd save.
Dentists in the western world are a complete ripoff because people choose to pay for it. No reason why they should cost exponentially more than any other profession. Don't buy into the 'horror stories' which are mostly the result of poor choices and/or propaganda. I'm sure there are may similar stories in Australia. There's a HUGE industry here benefiting from people's ignorance and unwillingness to travel.
I've had dental work done in Aus, Thailand and Philippines and my experiences both in terms of facilities, equipment, practitioner and care have been better overseas.
Do the research and get VALUE.Cannot agree more. Australian need more education to understand they are being ripped off!
See a dentist?
I know you mentioned you need to get it done now but you should have done this before.
get basic extras costing from $335 per year (after tax discount and 12 month waiting) which allows you to claim $750 for surgical removal of wisdom teeth. Of cause you would need to get charged $1070 as they only rebate back 70% for the procedure.
so assuming the procedure costs $1070 and getting the full $750 back and adding the premium cost = ~$650 for the extraction. Not only that you get optical items $200 to claim per year as well as other chiro etc.
link on it here..(https://www.medibank.com.au/healthcover/basic-extras/Default…)
Saves you from going to Thailand :)
So BSK you've been the receipt of awesome device, what are you going to do?
In no particular order: (the only thing not recommended is waiting 12 months for health insurance waiting periods, this sounds like it should be done asap)
Get it done in Australia. 1. In the chair with a normal dentist. (might not be an option) 2. With an oral maxillofacial surgeon. Personally I think your dentist should have advised it be removed BEFORE problems flared up. D: But can't do anything about that. I got all four of mine removed in one go about five years ago with Dr Sri Thamby (a surgeon) in Burwood NSW. He was absolutely superb. I was worried about the indemnity form and all the risks but I don't even think there was any pain after the op.
Get it done overseas.
Get it done overseas with NIB options. (Apparently they'll warranty the procedure.) Their rates are a bit higher than local prices, it seems, though. To give you an idea, since I've called -
Thailand with NIB: root canal 400, crown 900, flight 550 (flight self-arranged)
Thailand: root canal 250, crown 550
vs - root canal 800, crown 1200 (australia)
There are risks associated with going overseas, which I'm sure you've heard from everyone else on this thread. However, calling NIB up and getting a quote didn't really take me much time, and helped me get another entry for price comparison.
For Aus - Most places will insist you have a consult before they quote you, but ask for a ballpark figure to get an idea of what's a decent price. You can have a look at http://www.smile.com.au/dental-fees/nsw if you get a quote with item numbers somewhere, but I've found that they're not the absolute cheapest. If you can, try to go to dentists that your friends or family would recommend. Of course, not everyone's had wisdom teeth extracted so it's hard to say..
If you get an X-Ray done at one place, or you already have recent X-Rays, try to ask if you can bring them along with you (to other consults), rather than have them done again. If it's digital, ask if you can have an emailed copy.
Anyway, good luck! :)
I'd suggest going back to your general dentist first. The pain could be from something else, like tooth decay, or infection of the tissue around the wisdom tooth. You might be able to buy yourself some time for health insurance if it is.
But if you find out they definitely need to come out then I would highly recommend Dr Thamby as well. I went in for other dental work and he is such a gentle soul. He took a look at my wisdoms while I was there too. Back then I think he was charging $400 per extraction, excluding the anaesthetist and operating room fees.
I suppose you could always ask to have it done under local anaesthetic, where you're actually awake, but numb so you don't feel any pain. Then it can be done in chair, save considerably on an anaesthetist and OR fees. If only the lower ones are impacted then I suppose you could go to a general dentist to have the uppers removed, my general dentist charges $150 for a simple extraction.
If you have a pension card of some sort, you can go to the public hospital and have them removed for free. (There is most likely a long wait list though).
My two cents about overseas dentistry, I would NOT do it. I'm not saying that all overseas dentists are dodgy, or that all Australians dentists are superb, but some are better than others, some are more experienced, and some times, shit just happens. If you go to an overseas dentist and encounter trouble, you're just about screwed.
I'd stick with an Aust dentist for the peace of mind. You know that if anything goes South then you can go back and have it fixed, usually free of charge (if they're at fault), no need to fly back.
On another note, Australia practices evidence based medicine, so everything is tried and true. You might be able to go overseas and get treatment done for fraction of the price, but how long will it last, how do you know it was actually done right, how do you know they haven't used some poor quality materials? You won't find out until it's too late. If things so south overseas, you only have so much time to have it sorted. There's just way too much risk involved.
Cost me $0 to have 2 removed. I'm with HBF
wut. how.
I looked into doing this a few years ago, I was looking at going to India to have major dental surgery and here's what I found.
The Pros
-The prices for major dental work in India were extremely cheap compared to Australia.
-The dentist were more often than not trained in prestigious English dental schools and had full accreditation.
-The surgery would be done in modern hospitals with modern equipment by suitably trained professional staff.The Cons
-because you are travelling to a foreign country on a "travel" visa for what amounts to elective surgery absolutely no travel insurance company will insure you. You basically have to lie about your intentions.
- If there are any complications arising from the dental work (such as infection etc) and you need to go to hospital, you will not have travel insurance that covers this. You will have to pay out of your own pocket for any hospital stay.This last con was what killed the idea for me. Should something go wrong you are basically stuffed. You'll be stranded in a foreign country with no insurance and a significant hospital bill which may greatly exceed the cost of the surgery in Australia. It's up to you to weigh up the risks involved really.
Yes , its a good idea to to go to thailand , vietnam or even India to get your wisdom teeth removed
few things
- How do you know that you will not end up crippled with Hepatitis A,B, or C
- What about HIV and AIDS ?
- Nerve damage from wisdom teeth extraction can lead to permanent numbness of the tongue , mouth and lips
- Wisdom teeth extraction can damage the sinuses and lead to a hole between the mouth and sinuses and it requires another operation to fix it
- What about excessive bleeding from wisdom teeth extraction ??
If you are happy with the above then go for it
otherwise spend a bit more and have a tension free procedure here in Australia
$80 to remove one for me. Am on Bupa extras cover. Maybe you can find a provider with a no-wait period promo?
So you pay god knows how much every month in health care and you STILL have to pay to get work done?
Like I said earlier, mum has top cover yet still pays more than me for glasses (I got mine for $20 delivered thanks Clearly contact's) and I had excellent service and results with an operation recently for free (Thanks public health system.
She paid out many thousands extra for her last one in Private and it was botched and she got an infection.It's actually cheaper for me to get extras cover and then go to no gap dentists for my bi-annual checkup and clean. Pay nothing for those unless something's wrong and I need a filling or extraction, in that case the extras cover give me back 60%.
Am always keen to find cheaper dental alternatives. Public free ones require concession cards right?
Seriously though, Hep A, B, C, HIV, and those mistakes from dentists in Singapore?
Its a fact that all Singaporean conscripts (which are practically almost all the males in the country >25 years of age) go through free wisdom tooth removal as a condition for discharge from the armed forces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Singapore
http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/best-and-worst/most-eff…
Todes does have a point though, no surgical procedure is 100% safe, anything can happen however unlikely. Not sure how much a night's stay at the hospital may cost for you. Singapore probably still has cheaper hospital costs compared to Australia but I can't say for sure.
You may want to go to Hongkong or Japan, but consider distance, ease of travel, communication and price.
Also, since its such a tiny country, shopping around physically or through word of mouth may actually be a good option.
Mistakes can happen in any medical procedure. Australian doctor doesn't make it less risky.
one of my friends wife had a C section few months back in a well reputed Australian public hospital and the doctor(Australian qualified and trained) managed to cut through her liver and both kidneys . She had to spend close to a month in Intensive Care Unit fighting for life. I do not proceed with details or locations involved here as there might be a legal action against the hospital.Wisdom tooth removal in SE Asia is more cost effective if you do your research correctly. There are well equipped private hospitals in Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong. If you know anyone from above countries you can ask for details about reputed hospitals in those countries.
OMG. Surgery Nightmare. Pray for the patient a full and speedy recovery.
Hey bsk are you from syd area? Have you called up a local dentist and requested a quote? A friend had his wisdom tooth removed for $300 in western Sydney area.
Maybe it's worth getting couple of quotes.
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being a smile.com.au member will give you a discount of only 15% off wisdom teeth extraction. estimated minimum cost for members is $1360. estimated minimum cost for non-members is $1600. membership is $77/year .. basically looks like a crappy way for them to lock you into certain dentists and then give you only a small discount on inflated pricing.
a better deal would be somewhere like http://www.wisdomdentalemergency.com.au .. their pricing is "MAX. PRICE for ALL 4 Surgical Wisdom Teeth Removal : $970"