Wisdom Teeth

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ProudMom2014

5-Year Member
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DS recently saw the school dentist and he wants the teeth removed before sea year.... so here is my question has anyone ever used the off campus dentist recommended? I was just looking over the calendar with DS and there are just no good weekends for him to come home and have this procedure done. I was thinking if this was done in NY I could come up and spend a few days at a hotel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!:eek:
 
Local Tooth Extraction

ProudMom2014 said:
DS recently saw the school dentist and he wants the teeth removed before sea year.... so here is my question has anyone ever used the off campus dentist recommended? I was just looking over the calendar with DS and there are just no good weekends for him to come home and have this procedure done. I was thinking if this was done in NY I could come up and spend a few days at a hotel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!:eek:
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Our DS used the recommended dentists and had no trouble at all. They did the extraction on a Friday afternoon if I remember correctly. The school sent along a midshipman to see our DS back to campus (said DS called us while still under the influence of the anesthesia, this was a very smart move on the schools part. As a side note, several of our DS's friends indicate that until he fell asleep, he was the comedy hit of the company that evening). DS was back in classes on Monday. We just provided DS with the insurance info and we got billed for the difference. It was surprisingly easy.

As to going to visit, we offered the same thing and DS would hear nothing of it. As it turns out, he was fine and it was clear our presence wasn't needed. Your DS will let you know.
 
Wisdoms

ProudMom2014 said:
DS recently saw the school dentist and he wants the teeth removed before sea year.... WHY ??
Is there a chronic problem ? My recommendation: if they aren't causing him a problem......and DS is 18-20yo......don't do a thing. Thank the doctor for his suggestion and drive on. As long as DS brushes well and uses a flouride rinse...tooth decay should never be an issue. Just my opinion......but that is how we are handling our DS Class of 2015.
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El Bombero said:
DS recently saw the school dentist and he wants the teeth removed before sea year.... WHY ??
Is there a chronic problem ? My recommendation: if they aren't causing him a problem......and DS is 18-20yo......don't do a thing. Thank the doctor for his suggestion and drive on. As long as DS brushes well and uses a flouride rinse...tooth decay should never be an issue. Just my opinion......but that is how we are handling our DS Class of 2015.
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It's not really a "suggestion" at this stage - when the school dentist says the wisdom teeth go, they have to go or else DS doesn't go out to sea. Our dentist would not remove DS's wisdom teeth before he reported to Indoc. Long and short of it was that he was at the dentist in Great Neck getting his wisdom teeth removed last spring before he set out to sea as a B-split. It all worked for him in the end, but it really would have been a lot easier if he had the wisdom teeth removed before Indoc.
 
El Bombero said:
DS recently saw the school dentist and he wants the teeth removed before sea year.... WHY ??
Is there a chronic problem ? My recommendation: if they aren't causing him a problem......and DS is 18-20yo......don't do a thing. Thank the doctor for his suggestion and drive on. As long as DS brushes well and uses a flouride rinse...tooth decay should never be an issue. Just my opinion......but that is how we are handling our DS Class of 2015.
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There's a difference between good dental hygiene and problems with 3rd Molars (aka Wisdom Teeth). You can have the best hygiene in the world and still have impacted molars.

As noted above it's not so much a "suggestion" once the Academy dentist recommends it. They will likely not clear him for sea once that "suggestion" has been made until they are removed.
 
Make it easy on yourself, get them out before you report to KP. It can be very difficult to schedule the procedure once they get there because there just isn't time. Even if your dentist doesn't believe it is necessary KP does not want to risk the possibility of your DS or DD having a problem when they might be in a third world country with less than ideal medical care available.
 
teeth

When we were faced with this same decision a wise person advised us of this;

Which would you prefer, having your child’s wisdom teeth removed while under your care, at a modern, competent and local oral surgeon or taking the risk of a molar becoming impacted and infected, a rather serious heath issue, while on sea term cruising the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia? (wow was that a run on sentence)

DS had his wisdom teeth removed over spring break of his senior year of high school. It was a rough 2 days but he survived just fine and even has some funny stories to share. It was his first time under anesthesia.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
KPatKP said:
When we were faced with this same decision a wise person advised us of this;

Which would you prefer, having your child’s wisdom teeth removed while under your care, at a modern, competent and local oral surgeon or taking the risk of a molar becoming impacted and infected, a rather serious heath issue, while on sea term cruising the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia? (wow was that a run on sentence)
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Absolutely!!!! KP can not risk an impacted, infected molar while a mid is at sea. What if it happened in the middle of the ocean, days from land? It could potentially be a very serious health situation and it is easily preventable by removing the wisdom teeth ahead of time. Odds are, no matter how good the wisdom teeth look now, the school dentist will refuse to clear the mid for sea until the teeth are removed.
 
DS had his wisdom teeth out this past Friday morning. He felt lousy until Tuesday. If at all possible get them out before you get to KP.:thumb:
 
Yank em

You can research this yourself, but this quote pretty much sums it up;

"The wisdom of removing wisdom teeth before they cause trouble has long been debated. In only a small percentage of people do they grow in straight and healthy. The human jaw has been steadily decreasing in size for millenniums and few people have a jaw large enough to accommodate four more teeth in the back of the mouth.

As a result many teeth grow in sideways, emerge only part way from the gum or remain impacted, forever trapped beneath it. According to recent estimated, 80-90 percent of Americans have at least one impacted "third molar," as dentists call a wisdom tooth.

If this were the end of the story, there would be no debate; unerupted wisdom could just sit there in the gums. Unfortunately, in many patients (exactly how many no one really knows), malpositioned or impacted wisdom teeth eventually cause trouble. They may become infected or decayed, or they may damage adjacent teeth. Cysts and even cancers can form."
 
When in doubt get them out. It is known that KP wants them removed before indoc so if possible do it. Why risk a blowup while out at sea. I am also sure that the dentist recommended by KP is fine.
 
Agree with those above with regard to getting them out as soon as possible. Even while the probibility is low, things do happen and there are very few options out at sea. It might be days before the ship makes port and even then very few places in the world have the dentistry we are accustomed to. Oh, and the ship isn't going to wait for him/her either - it has a mission to get on with. Now your DS/DD is stuck (alone) waiting for a ride out of God knows where. So, go with the recommendations of the Academy Dentist.

As far as traveling back to be with him/her... I don't think there is any need for that. The Academy will take good care of your DS/DD.

V/r
USMMECOM
 
gettn' them out...

Thank you everyone! DS will be making an appointment with the oral surgeon tomorrow. Dentist at home wouldn't take them out before indoc- in his opinion they were coming in fine! KP dentist said "they have to go" so going they will.... Once all is said and done I will post the outcome. Just incase someone else has a similar experience. :biggrin:
 
This was my sons situation, before indoc his teeth were checked and one wisdom tooth never grew, 2 broke thru and were fine, one was impacted. KP dentist said the impacted one had to go the other two were o.k..... Spring break he had it pulled (Monday)....2 days spitting a little blood, by thursday good as new. KP dentist had a look the following week and was cleared for Sea term.....He's now on his way to Hawaii, Guam then China as I write this..his third run on this ship..
 
Thanks to THE FORUM

I stand corrected. I can see the 'wisdom' (no pun) in having those teeth removed prior to reporting. Irony: my wife returns with DS from dentist visit last week, tells me ALL is WELL.......but has the name of a good oral surgeon because dentist recommends that junior have his wisdom teeth removed. Of course I pounce with my very humble opinion....something like "all they want is your money, forget it"..........now I get to tell her that my friends on THE FORUM have set me straight......and we need to schedule that surgery !
Thanks for all the great info.:smile:
 
Thanks El Bombero for the insight. I will show hubby this when I explain we will be fighting to remove our DS's dumb theeth even if they are ""fine" now. He will have the same first reaction you did :biggrin:
 
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