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Wisdom teeth sealing for teens (cost)?


Arcadia
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DS14 has four wisdom teeth out. The dentist doesn’t know if our insurance would cover the cost of sealant for wisdom teeth. Our Dental insurance covers for molars. His teeth are great despite his reluctance to brush his teeth but we did get his molars sealed just in case. 

My husband would call the dental insurance tomorrow and ask. Just curious if anyone has done that and how much you end up paying out of pocket.

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We were told about $600 when my sons were quoted, but it so depends on your insurance.  Neither of my boys have had their wisdom teeth out.   It was recommended, but they aren't bothered by them, so we didn't do it.  You are reminding me to get my kids to the dentist though!  I meant to call today.  My older boys are 21 and 19.

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12 hours ago, amyx4 said:

Ask at your Dental college or community college(dental hygienists training) or vocational high school. 

This.  We paid about $5 per tooth.  And it was such a blessing to have low-cost, very thorough (but lengthy) dental care!
Highly recommend this route!

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If your DS is seeing an orthodontist, you may want to ask there. DD’s would have done sealants if DD hadn’t had them done at the dentist recently at no extra charge.

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$40/tooth is cheap as DS13 doesn’t have the “luck” with cavities that DS14 has. If they were the usual molars, insurance covers the full cost. Just curious whether wisdom teeth would be covered as well. 

Our former dentist has a billing clerk during opening hours so the clerk would call insurance and check. Our current dentist doesn’t have a billing clerk there all the time so faster for us to call our insurance and check coverage ourselves.

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23 hours ago, Arcadia said:

$40/tooth is cheap as DS13 doesn’t have the “luck” with cavities that DS14 has. If they were the usual molars, insurance covers the full cost. Just curious whether wisdom teeth would be covered as well. 

Our former dentist has a billing clerk during opening hours so the clerk would call insurance and check. Our current dentist doesn’t have a billing clerk there all the time so faster for us to call our insurance and check coverage ourselves.

My guess is that insurance does NOT cover sealants on wisdom teeth.  They often have a cut off for age.  14 is often the cut off.  That is REALLY young for wisdom teeth to be erupted enough to get seals on.

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16 minutes ago, rjand6more said:

My guess is that insurance does NOT cover sealants on wisdom teeth.  They often have a cut off for age.  14 is often the cut off.  That is REALLY young for wisdom teeth to be erupted enough to get seals on.

 

Checked my husband’s employer provided dental insurance. Molars are covered at once every two years for the same molar (no age restrictions so I can get mine sealed too). Wisdom teeth are 3rd set of molars according to U of Washington (https://faculty.washington.edu/quarn/3rds.html) so my husband can argue with dental insurance if insurance make a fuss.

“What are wisdom teeth? Most of us will develop a third molar tooth in each quadrant of our mouths, upper left, upper right, lower left lower right. The molars are the large grinding teeth in back. The last molars in the line are called 3rd molars or more popularly wisdom teeth. These teeth usually erupt, break through the gum tissue after the age of 17. Some will only partially erupt and others will stay completely buried under the tissue. Many patients never develop 3rd molars although a few folks will get 4th molars. Fortunately, these are rare.”

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Why seal them and not just take them out?  Sealants don’t last a lifetime and wear down.  I rarely hear of people with wisdom teeth who haven’t had problems.   My sister for example never got hers out and now has a rotating infection in one of them.  She has a chance of getting nerve damage if she gets them taken out now because wisdom teeth can really be invasive so she just goes on antibiotics when it flares.  

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1 hour ago, bethben said:

Why seal them and not just take them out?  

 

My side of the family didn’t have an issue with their wisdom teeth even without sealant. So no point taking his out. My husband’s side of the family doesn’t get wisdom tooth, my husband doesn’t have any (none in his dental X-rays either).

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