wisdom teeth

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Hiker2021

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Joined
Mar 20, 2017
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My son was told by his dentist he should have all four wisdom teeth pulled in the fall. Not seeing it as urgent, we didn't do it. Now he has accepted his appointment to USAFA and it seems to have become the big debate in our home. We are 12 weeks from IDay. He could potentially get it done in 2 weeks which puts us 10 weeks from IDay. I am wondering how important it is to do this at this time and if it could cause complications with his DODMERB clearance. Do we report this somehow?
Thanks!
 
It will not cause a problem with DodMERB as long as there are no complications. Ten weeks is plenty of recovery time. The only place you would report it is on the medical health history form you fill out after appointment and before I-Day to indicate any changes since the initial medical exam. I believe it has an area specifically for oral surgery.

If you do a "search" for wisdom teeth on the forum, you will find a lot of advice, for and against removal as well as DoDMERB.
 
It is very common for people to get their wisdom teeth taken out before going to basic training. And there's no issues with the academy. They actually prefer you get it done before coming. 1) No chance of you having an issue with your teeth when you get to the academy; and 2) the government doesn't have to pay for it. Getting wisdom teeth taken out before going to BCT is common.

If you don't: Basically; hope that the teeth make it through bct. If it flairs up and becomes a problem during bct, expect to be sent home. You can only miss so many hours of BCT before you fall too far behind your classmates. Then, the academy has no choice but to release you and send you home. So; if the wisdom teeth aren't causing a problem, don't worry about it. But the FACT that your dentist told you last summer to get them out, tells me that your dentist thinks they could be an issue. I suggest you get them out immediately. Getting them done before april 15th gives your son plenty of time to recuperate and go to BCT without issues. The longer you wait, the less chance of that being true. Yes, report it on your medical form. But like I said; this is common for many appointees; and the academy actually encourages it and prefers it.
 
My DS had his pulled. We called DoDMERB and they only asked for a letter from the performing doctor. We sent it in and within 10 days or so he received an updated status letter from DoDMERB showing he was still qualified for the academies and ROTC. No issues at all.
 
Thank you, everyone for your replies. Hoping to get him in for the procedure in the next two weeks. He may end up eating Easter dinner via straw. :)
 
Hiker2021 said:
Thank you, everyone for your replies. Hoping to get him in for the procedure in the next two weeks. He may end up eating Easter dinner via straw. :)
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My DS had his removed on March 10 and is completely back to normal now. We sent a letter from his oral surgeon to Dodmerb as mentioned before. I'm glad we went ahead and got it taken care of. Good luck!
 
Hiker2021 said:
My son was told by his dentist he should have all four wisdom teeth pulled in the fall. Not seeing it as urgent, we didn't do it. Now he has accepted his appointment to USAFA and it seems to have become the big debate in our home. We are 12 weeks from IDay. He could potentially get it done in 2 weeks which puts us 10 weeks from IDay. I am wondering how important it is to do this at this time and if it could cause complications with his DODMERB clearance. Do we report this somehow?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
DS had his removed last fall after being Dodmerb qualified. Normally there isn't any complications and the healing time is only a couple weeks. If the dentist recommends removal I wouldn't waste anytime. Dodmerb doesn't deal with dental issues really. DS was never examined by a dentist. If he had some sort of complication that might've been a Dodmerb issue. We thought it better he got it over with at home instead of at the academy.
 
We had this same question in our house. If we waited, we also wouldn't have to pay the $500 dollar co-pay because DD would have her own insurance, but we worried about there just not being a better time than doing it this spring. They will be home such a brief time next summer that I was worried that there wouldn't be enough time for the surgery, recovery, and good family time.
 
Didn't read replies, excuse if duplicate.

Soooo glad my son got his removed before basic. Not only do they not have time for it once school starts, but there is no ice in the dorms for ice packs.
 
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