Wisdom teeth: Cap 'em or Pull 'em?

My wisdom teeth are rotted out. I have a dentist appointment this Wednesday where I will have to decide if I want them pulled, or capped. I have had several people tell me to have them pulled, but I cannot stand the idea of being 21 having any missing teeth. I have some dental insurance, and if I decide to cap them, it will be hard, but I will find a way to pay for it.

So, what do you think I should do?

  1. Bite the bullet and have them pulled?
  2. Spend lavishly to have them capped?
  3. Spite the vicious God that gave me perfectly straight teeth that “dissolve on contact”?

My dentist suggested I get mine pulled if they gave me big cavity troubles. His comment was that they were rather difficult to keep clean, and if they became cavity prone, they would just keep giving me trouble year after year.

A lot of people get them pulled anyway for other reasons, and apparently lead perfectly normal lives. :stuck_out_tongue:

Pull them. I had mine pulled at 18 for free (Thanks, Uncle Sam). Several years later, I don’t miss them at all. Also, if they are “through” your gums you shouldn’t have a bad time of it. Mine were a piece of cake; went in, they gave me an IV (or a shot) and said count from 100 back to 1 - I got to 99. Next thing I knew they were wheeling me to my friend’s car. You have to have someone pick you up. I was in no shape to drive. There wasn’t much pain or swelling, I never used my pain pills and I had a chicken sandwich for dinner.

It wasn’t bad. Save your cash and have them pulled instead.

My experience was almost exactly the same (except the Uncle Sam part) and I’m glad I did it.

The only rea$on I could think of a denti$t wanting to cap wi$dom teeth would be becau$e he could make more money.

Mine were severely impacted upper and lower, had started to cause intense pain, and were likely to continue to do so, so I had them pulled (at age 42). 'Fraid it was a bit of a worst-case senario, however. The dental surgeon actually broke up part of my lower jaw to get the lower ones out (and the prick never hinted that this might be necessary prior to the procedure). I was in severe pain intermittently for at least three weeks following the operation, and numerous bits of shattered bone slowly worked their way to the surface of my gums for about six months afterward. Yuck.

Nevertheless, if they’re already in bad shape, it would be best to get them out, as they are likely only to get worse with time.

Mine were pulled for orthodontic reasons (my jaw was supposedly not big enough). I think it’s pretty common to have them pulled for one reason or another. You still have plenty of molars left, so it’s not going to affect the rest of yout teeth. (I am not a dentist.)

If you have recurrent decay then get them pulled! You could end up with an infection deep in your jaw which will do gross things like leak pus into your mouth (if your lucky), if your not lucky you could end up with cheilitis,( painful and wierd looking swollen infection.) Plus, most people have their wisdon teeth pulled or they just congenitally don’t have the little suckers, no one will even notice anyway.

Which Uncle Sam did yours? Sound’s like you went to a country club.

The Navy took mine in boot camp. (All potential submariners get their wisdom teeth yanked to avoid complications on patrol).
We were escorted to sickbay where there was a decent-sized line outside the dentist’s office. This line went much too quickly for my taste. The fellow called “Next!” and I found myself in the chair. He gave me a few quick pricks of some potent anesthetic that was definitely not Novicaine and then immediately pulled them out :eek:. I didn’t even have a chance to warm the chair.

He handed me my teeth with a pleasant suggestion to keep them wet if I didn’t want them to break (as if I were going home to my own bedroom where I could keep them in a glass on the windowsill).

They gave us a perscription for codeine and a “rack pass” for the day. The next day was supposed to be light duty, but that simply meant that they didn’t horsewhip us too many times during the normal 3am-9pm shift working in the mess hall.

To answer the OP… Get them removed. You’ll never miss them, and they won’t ever bother you again.

The fact that you’ll have missing teeth doesn’t mean anything. They’re all the way in the back, it’s not like you’ll look like a homeless person or anything. I always understood that you should get your wisdoms pulled if there was any decent reason to do so. You don’t really need them after all. I think your reason is a good enough one, as others have said, it gets messy if you don’t.

But I like them! They are great for really getting the hard and chewy stuff.

Auuugghh! I don’t wanna. Idon’twanna.Idon’twanna.Idon’twanna.Idon’twanna.Idon’twanna.

Sulks in corner while feeling the sharp crevasses of the remains of his teeth

Pull them. If you were missing other molars then crowning might be the way to go.

If you keep them, the dentist may place gold crowns instead of the pretty porcelain/gold ones. Available space and material strength limit the options when it comes to crowning wisdom teeth.

Crowns do not last forever. You are 21 now. Expect to replace those crowns at least once, probably two or three times, due to wear or recurrent marginal decay. Each replacement brings you closer to needing root canal treatment. If the decay is deep enough you may need it now.

Ask your dentist to refer you to an oral surgeon, especially if the lower teeth are to be removed. Perfectly straight teeth does not mean perfectly straight roots. The OS’s office will know how to bill your medical insurance if these are surgical extractions.

Get them out - I got mine out when I was 19 (almost a year ago, last December 10th). Two of mine had already poked out and two hadn’t, but it wasn’t any problem getting them out. My mouth ached for about a week and it was difficult eating, but it only lasted a week, and I will never have trouble with my wisdom teeth again. (Unless they come to life all angry with me for kicking them out of their home and track me down. I’m getting strange images in my head. Must stop.)

Get them pulled! Surely you misunderstood your dentist or he’s pulling your leg instead of your teeth. The guy is seeing dollar signs bigtime.

I’ve never heard of a dentist suggesting capping wisdom teeth. I believe this is a very uncommon suggestion. I agree with others here who say that something is fishy there.

Wisdom teeth are just not worth keeping. I had one side pulled out many years ago because they were infected and making me miserable. The other side I had pulled a couple of years ago, simply because I didn’t want them to get infected too.

It’s just not worth it. Capping is for teeth that you can see, and really use. Not for useless way-back teeth that are decay magnets.

The dentist did not suggest it. I did. I really do not like the idea of loosing any teeth.

Well, it’s best that you get over it. Wisdom teeth are not worth keeping. They will be a money pit. An infected, decaying money pit.

Look, I’m not crazy about losing teeth either. I come from a family of strong teeth. I am very spoiled. I once didn’t go to a dentist for over 10 years, with very little ill-effects. (I don’t recommend this to others, though.)

I currently live in Hooterville, where people in their 20s, 30s and 40s on up have massive gaps in their mouths, and believe me, this is not at all what I have in mind for myself. I am with you on that. Some people are cavalier about losing teeth. Not me. I want to keep as many as I can. But not wisdom teeth. They are not worth the hassle.

Believe me, wisdom teeth are not worth keeping. You won’t look like a refugee from “Deliverance” with your wisdom teeth missing.

Just get them out. Like people said it’s not a real big bother or anything. I had mine removed at age 17. I had to go to this dentist who was subsidised (paid about 80 bucks for the whole procedure, this province doesn’t cover dentistry at all)

I wasn’t put to sleep so I had the interesting sensation of having my mouth frozen and them cracing the teeth and pulling them out (one on the lower right I think was actually growing in almost sideways. If I had waited any long I would have had to go to an expensive orthodontist and have major oral surgery to get it out because of the way the roots were growing)

Some people get it done all at once, I had it done in two sessions. Once on my left then about 2-3 months later on my right. My cheek swelled up a little but with a weekends worth of codeine I was fine.

Personally I don’t like orthodontists… my Dad dragged me to one when I was younger because my teeth were crooked (they still are) and I ended up with the whole geeky headgear thing because I had an overbite. Now sometimes when I wake up in the mornings I can’t open my mouth too far because it’s almost locked there… I then have to pop out my jaw. Other times it just cracks. It’s really gross. My uncle had to have his jaw broken though because of his overbite.

I only ever got one. It was a perfect tooth. I had it pulled because it was throwing out the alignment of all the other teeth in my upper jaw. The dentist that did the extraction called wisdom teeth “fake molars.” If those teeth are decaying that rapidly, why would you want to throw money away on them? I say concentrate your cas :Dh on the nice shiney ones in the front!

Having wisdom teeth is fairly likely to cause problems. Not having them is quite unlikely to cause problems. Pulling them is rather cheap. Capping them is expensive. It’s your mouth, but it’s hard to construct a rational argument for any course save yanking them.

With their already causing problems, as in your case, trying to keep them strikes me as asking for trouble, and begging to pay dearly for it as well.