Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth often start to appear around the late teens or early twenties. The issue is that our mouths sometimes simply can't accommodate them and they become impacted – or butted up hard against other teeth and the gums. Impacted wisdom teeth area serious issue due to the problems they cause like infection, misaligned teeth, crowding, damage to adjacent teeth and cysts. The surgery is very common and it's best to deal with wisdom teeth before they become a problem.

Unfortunately when impacted wisdom teeth need removing they need to be surgically removed. Your dentist will generally recommend a general anaesthetic due to the work involved. Unfortunately, a GA for many often involves the cost of going to a Day Surgery or a hospital. If you are a patient who does not have private health cover this can be an expensive exercise.

Fortunately at Dr Walker’s surgery we can offer intravenous sedation in-house. Therefore your wisdom teeth can be removed without incurring high costs. For patients whose wisdom teeth require greater surgical intervention we have our own outpatient General Anaesthetic facility for the removal of these teeth and you can avoid the high costs of a hospital visit.

Wisdom Teeth Cost

Surgical removal of wisdom teeth can cost from $ 249.00 to $ 482.00 per tooth depending on the complexity such as the difficulty of the impaction, the age of the patient and the time it will take.

For highly complex wisdom teeth a higher resolution radiograph may be needed and further costs may incur.

Having Nitrous oxide, Intravenous Sedation or General Anaesthesia will add to the wisdom teeth removal costs.

Dr Walker is a certified Dental Board Sedation Practitioner. We provide Intravenous Sedation and General Anaesthesia in our rooms which provide considerable cost savings to the patients especially if they do not have private health cover because going to a private hospital or day surgery can easily add a thousand dollers ($ 1000.00) to the cost. For example a comparison cost approximately for say a 21 year old patient presenting with two severely infected lower third molars (wisdom teeth) is:

General Anaesthesia in Day Surgery

(these fees are estimated as of January 2010)

Intravenous Sedation at MPW Dentistry

To diagnose the difficulty of your wisdom teeth you need a good quality OPG (full face radiograph) preferably not more than 6months old. We can refer you to a radiologist prior to the appointment. No diagnosis can be made without this.

As a clinic consultation is required at a cost of $98.00

On arrival you will be asked to fill out a questionnaire of your details and medical history

This is important so that we can take better care of you

At the consultation we will examin your mouth , and review the radiographs and discuss which method of treatment you wish to have your wisdom teeth surgically removed whether you choose to be awake to have Nitrous Oxide (happy gas ) , Intravenous Sedation or General Anaesthesia. We are a certified Dental Board Sedation practice. We provide Intravenous Sedation and General Anaesthetics in our rooms this provides considerable cost savings to the patient compared to going to a private day surgery.

If your choice is Intravenous Sedation or General Anaesthesia one of our staff who are a registered nurse will review your blood pressure and check your pulse oxymetry in preparation for your surgery.

At the end of this consultation we will be able to give a more accurate estimate of costs.

Things that we will provide for you