The most frequent questions about wisdom teeth extraction

Before the wisdom tooth surgery, sufficient food should be eaten so that the treatment can be survived well. After the operation, eating is not easy for a few hours. You should not eat anything until the local anesthesia has worn off and the lip and tongue have a complete feeling again.

Before this happens, there is a risk of biting your tongue, lip or cheek. Dairy products or very crumbly or hard food should be avoided until the wounds have healed, so as not to provoke an inflammation. Alcohol, coffee and tea should also be omitted from the menu for the first few days.

This increases the blood pressure and can quickly lead to wound healing disorders or to the wound bursting open again. Everything else, especially soft foods (porridge, pasta, potatoes) can be consumed without any problems as soon as the anaesthesia wears off. Of course, care should be taken that the mouth is not opened too much, so as not to cause pain and not to tear the wound apart.

Since this is a difficult procedure, which can be accompanied by swelling, especially in warmer weather, sick leave of up to three days is possible. The duration depends on the type of profession, the existing inflammation around the wisdom tooth and the difficulty of the procedure. If the teeth are easy to pull, often no sick note is necessary.

However, if bone has to be removed in order to make the wisdom teeth visible, a stronger swelling can be accompanied by severe pain. Then a longer sick leave is possible. As a rule, the dentist may issue a certificate of incapacity to work for about 3 days.

Since the removal of wisdom teeth is a major procedure that sometimes causes larger wounds, sport should be avoided until the wounds have at least healed superficially. Before that, the prohibition of sports should be strictly adhered to, as otherwise wound healing disorders (inflammation, reopening of the wound) and the associated delayed wound healing will occur. As a rule, it takes just under 10 days before you are fit for sport again.

But before that you will notice that you are still very weak due to the major operation. As with any illness, the body needs all energy for healing at the beginning. When smoking, there is a constant irritation to the mucous membranes of the mouth during the smoking process.

The smoke causes the tissue to change or rebuild, creating a kind of cornea in the oral cavity and reducing blood circulation. In addition, the blood coagulum in the extraction wound decays and can lead to wound infection. If a tooth is extracted and you start smoking again too early, the reduced blood supply can lead to delayed wound healing.Therefore, smoking should be avoided for 14 days.

However, this is very difficult for most smokers. Nevertheless, they should abstain from smoking for at least 3 days. Nicotine patches are recommended for particularly high addiction pressure.

Whether the wisdom teeth are extracted under general or local anesthesia depends on various factors in each individual case. As a rule, it is not absolutely necessary to use general anesthesia, since in the case of wisdom teeth, sufficient pain elimination can be achieved even with local anesthesia. However, if the teeth are very close to the lower jaw nerve or in a place that is difficult for the dentist to access, general anesthesia can be a good supplement to therapy.

Especially anxious patients benefit from this, because they do not notice the procedure and their fear does not increase further. Since the health insurance only covers the costs of general anesthesia in certain cases, this aspect also plays a certain role. Not everyone can afford general anesthesia.

The costs amount to about 300€ per hour of dental treatment. However, it is only covered in cases of recognized dental fear, patients with allergies to the anesthetics, children under 12 years of age, and patients with confirmed mental or motor disorders. Pulling several teeth at the same time is normally not a problem at all.

The same applies to wisdom teeth. Those who wish to do so can have all four extracted at once. The treatment is particularly suitable if the teeth are extracted during general anesthesia, since only one single procedure is then necessary.

However, if the teeth are extracted under local anesthesia, it is often decided – depending on the position of the wisdom teeth and the degree of difficulty – to remove the teeth laterally. This means that two procedures are necessary, in which the two right and the two left wisdom teeth are removed. Each dentist decides for himself whether suturing is necessary after the extraction of a wisdom tooth.

Often, however, the two lower wisdom teeth have to be sutured. These are often located crosswise in the lower jaw or are severely inflamed, which makes it necessary to push the gums a little to the side and remove part of the bone. In order for the displaced gums to grow together properly, they are then sutured in the right place.

Since no rule can be named here that will be used to make a decision, you should simply contact the treating doctor yourself shortly before the procedure. The removal of the wisdom teeth is completely covered by the insurance of the teeth of a private patient. However, the costs must be paid by the patient if there is no insurance for the wisdom teeth in the case of private patients, if the treatment is desired by the patient without medical necessity or if the patient is not insured at all.

In this case, depending on the degree of difficulty, costs of up to 250 € must be expected. Additional investments become necessary if a general anaesthetic is desired but not absolutely necessary. Approximately 250 € are then additionally incurred.

Thus, with four existing wisdom teeth, one can expect costs of up to 1250€. During a pregnancy, the well-being of the child is always in the foreground. Usually the extraction of a wisdom tooth is therefore not scheduled for an appointment in these nine months.

There are, however, some important reasons that speak in favor of removal even during pregnancy. This is when the mother’s health is at risk. This is the case, for example, when a pus-filled area (abscess) has formed around an existing wisdom tooth and there is a large inflammation in the oral cavity.

If not treated, this inflammation can spread further and be spread through the bloodstream in the body. The pregnancy would be at risk in this case. Therefore in such an exceptional case a wisdom tooth must be extracted at any time during pregnancy.

X-rays as well as the anesthesia are to be considered critical here, which means they should be used as little as possible. The best time for this is between the 4th and 6th month, since the child’s vital organs are already developed and the pregnant woman is still well treatable. The further the pregnancy progresses, the more difficult the treatment becomes due to the patient’s position, abdominal girth and ability to cope with stress.