In a recent blog, we discussed whether or not you need your wisdom teeth removed and why this procedure is necessary for patients with a high risk of complications. If you’re one of the many patients who need these teeth removed, choosing the right professional to perform this surgery is important.
So, who should remove your wisdom teeth – a general dentist or an oral surgeon? Below are three things to consider when making this decision.
- The difficulty of the procedure. Before making this decision, ask your dentist how difficult the procedure will be on a scale of one to 10. If your case is a six or higher, I would highly recommend seeing an oral surgeon to remove your wisdom teeth. Oral surgeons perform these surgeries every day and are skilled at more complex cases that your general dentist might not be experienced with.
- The level of sedation. The level of sedation you’d like is also something to consider. If you have dental anxiety, you’ll want to go to someone who can offer you conscious oral sedation, as opposed to local anesthesia. For more difficult cases, intravenous (IV) sedation might also be warranted. I would suggest IV sedation for cases that are a seven or higher on the difficulty scale.
- Follow-up care. If you choose to see an oral surgeon, it’s important to work with someone who has an established relationship with your general dentist. Oftentimes, the general dentist will field most of the questions and concerns regarding post-operative care. However, they will refer you back to the surgeon for more serious concerns. So, it’s important that your general dentist and oral surgeon have a good rapport.
I’m always in favor of an oral surgeon removing wisdom teeth because they do it every day and are very good at it. However, there are general dentists who are more than capable of handling this procedure. If your general dentist thinks they can handle it and you are comfortable with their treatment, then by all means, have them remove your wisdom teeth.
In our office, we refer patients to an oral surgeon 95 percent of the time. This is more of a personal preference, given the high volume of patients we see and the level of care we provide in our office. If you need your wisdom teeth removed, call our office at (813) 689-4226 and we can refer you to an excellent oral surgeon in our area.
