“I have 4 wisdom teeth to remove, but I don’t want to go through the pain for 4 times. Moreover, it is too troublesome to pay multiple visits. So doctor, may I have all the 4 pulled at a time, or at least 2 of them? I saw a lot of others had 2 wisdom teeth extracted in one visit.” The doctor replies, it depends.

I often hear my friends complain, “my dentist is not gelivable. The removal of 4 wisdom teeth can be done by other dentists in 2 visits when they remove 2 teeth in the same quadrant each time. But mine suggests to extract one at a time.” Why?

To charge extra? Never happen in a licensed hospital!

Because licensed hospital has unified charging standard for wisdom tooth extraction. Then how much is it to remove a wisdom tooth? The removal of an upper wisdom tooth can cost a few hundred yuan to one thousand yuan; while the lower wisdom tooth removal costs one thousand yuan to three thousand yuan, because the lower tooth is more difficult to remove.

The fee is charged per tooth. So the cost has something to do with the number of wisdom teeth, but not the number of visits. No matter how many visits you pay, the price remains the same.

 Impacted wisdom tooth may not be able to be justified by naked eyes. Panoramic radiography can help.

Which is better, to remove one or two wisdom teeth at a time?

One of my colleagues encountered the same issue when she visited the dentist for wisdom tooth removal. She asked the dentist, “doctor, I feel no pain following the extraction, why can’t I have the 2 wisdom teeth in the same quadrant removed at one time? It saves time.”

Here’s the dentist’s reply, “wisdom tooth removal is not easy. The difficulty of procedure varies case by case, and the pain tolerance differs from person to person. Moreover, the extraction spot is easy to be inflamed due to the lack of proper aftercare, resulting in dry socket, in which case the wound needs much more time to heal. Isn’t this more troublesome? Now you only need a few more visits to have the wisdom teeth pulled, one at a time, and then take good aftercare. This can make you more comfortable and does nothing bad to your life.”

It is too risky to get all 4 wisdom teeth out at once. Not recommend!

Although there are quite a number of dentists at home and abroad who extract all 4 wisdom teeth at once to satisfy the needs of the patients, such practice is not recommended currently. Because wisdom tooth extraction is a surgical operation which can cause wound and bleeding, and it can bring great inconvenience to the patient’s life, for example, the patient is unable to eat normally after extraction.

It is viable to remove the 2 wisdom teeth in the same quadrant at a time if the removal is less difficult. But it may leave a large wound which needs more time to heal. If the removal is difficult, you may have to take the dentist’s suggestion, and have your wisdom teeth pulled one at a time! After all, the dentist can make more professional evaluation.