Is it good to have all 4 wisdom teeth taken out at the same time?

Question

They are not really causing any problems right now but they are pretty hard to reach when brushing, so my dentist recommended to have them extracted. I'm not sure if I should just do 2 at a time or do all.

Answer 1

I recommend all 4 at the same time. You only have to modify your diet once and you only have to recover once. Also another aspect is money. It's cheaper to get all 4 extracted in one session than 4 different surgeries. You have the same amount of complications/risks/benefits from 4 extraction as you do with one tooth extracted.

Should You Have Your Wisdom Teeth Removed?

Jennifer Flach was a college junior when her wisdom teeth started making themselves known. "My other teeth started moving around," she remembers. "The wisdom teeth were pushing out and undoing some of the orthodontic work I had done in high school."
At the same time, her brother — who's two years younger and was also in college — had no symptoms. But the family dentist suggested his wisdom teeth should come out too.
Jen and her brother had back-to-back wisdom tooth extractions and recovered together at home during spring break. "It was quite a week at my parents' house," she says.
Patrick Grother was 26 when his dentist mentioned that his wisdom teeth might need to be removed. His bottom left wisdom tooth had partially erupted into his mouth and a flap of gum still covered it. "The dentist said food would get trapped there and it could get infected," he says. Patrick then visited a periodontist, who said that the gum flap could be cut away but it would grow back.
"I put it off for awhile," Patrick said, but he eventually had the wisdom teeth on the left side of his mouth extracted.
A few people are born without wisdom teeth or have room in their mouths for them, but like Jen and her brother, many of us get our wisdom teeth taken out during our college years. And like Patrick, many of us are first alerted to the problem when our wisdom teeth don't emerge (erupt) into the mouth properly because there is not enough toom for them to fit.
"A part of the tooth may remain covered by a flap of gum, where food particles and bacteria can get trapped, causing a mild irritation, a low-grade infection called pericoronitis and swelling," says Dr. Donald Sadowsky, professor emeritus of clinical dentistry College of Dental Medicine and the Mailman School of Public Health. This usually happens with the lower wisdom teeth. Pericoronitis and the pain it causes is the most common reason people need their wisdom teeth taken out.
Pericoronitis is just one of the reasons that you may need to have a wisdom tooth or more than one removed.
In many people, the wisdom teeth never even partially enter the mouth. Often the teeth are tilted under the gum and blocked from coming in by bone or other teeth. Dentists call these impacted teeth; they may cause pain, but you may feel nothing at all for years. You may not even be aware that you have wisdom teeth until your dentist sees them on an X-ray.
Regular dental visits are important during your teens and early twenties because this is the time when teeth are most likely to decay. Regular visits allow your dentist to follow the progress of your wisdom teeth with X-rays.
Even if your wisdom teeth aren't causing any pain or other problems, they may cause problems at some point. The most common problems are decay, infection, and crowding or damage to other teeth. But more serious complications can occur, including the development of a cyst that can cause permanent damage to bone, teeth and nerves.
However, not all wisdom teeth need to be removed.
If removing wisdom teeth is necessary, it's easier in younger people because the tooth roots are not fully developed and the bone in which the teeth sit is less dense. Extracting your wisdom teeth before any complications develop also allows for shorter recovery time and less discomfort after the surgery


If you need all four wisdom teeth removed, they usually are taken out at the same time. The top teeth usually are easier to remove than the lower ones.
Here are the types of wisdom teeth in order from easiest to remove to most complex to remove:
Erupted (already in the mouth)
Soft-tissue impacted (just under the gum)
Partial-bony impacted (partially stuck in the jaw)
Full-bony impacted (completely stuck in the jaw)
Also, if your wisdom teeth are tilted sideways, they can be harder to remove than if they are vertical.

Follow-Up
Most simple extractions do not cause much discomfort after the procedure. You may take an over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin and other brand names) for several days, or you may not need any pain medication.
Because surgical extractions are more complicated, they generally cause more pain after the procedure. The level of discomfort and how long you have discomfort depend on the difficulty of the extraction. Your dentist may prescribe a prescription pain medication for a few days and then suggest an NSAID. Most postsurgical pain disappears after a couple of days.
A cut in the mouth tends to bleed more than a cut on the skin because the incision cannot dry out and form a scab. So after an extraction, you'll be asked to bite on a piece of gauze for about 20 to 30 minutes to put pressure on the area and allow the blood to clot. The area may still bleed minimally for the next 24 hours or so and taper off after that. Don’t disturb the clot that forms on the wound.
You can put ice packs on your face to reduce postoperative swelling. If your jaw is sore and stiff after the swelling dissipates, try warm compresses. Eat soft foods for a few days then try other food as you feel comfortable. Rinse with warm salt water (1/2 teaspoon of salt in a cup of water) for the first few days to help keep the area clean. Most swelling and bleeding ends within one or two days of the surgery. Overall healing takes between one and two weeks.
If the extraction needs to be closed with stitches, the stitches are usually dissolvable and should disappear in one to two weeks. Rinsing with warm salt water will help the stitches to dissolve.
You should not smoke, use a straw or spit after surgery. These actions can pull the blood clot out of the hole where the tooth was. That causes more bleeding and can lead to a dry socket, which occurs in about 5% of all extractions. It is most common when lower back teeth are removed and happens more often in smokers and women who take birth control pills.

Risks
Infection can set in after an extraction, although you probably won't get an infection if you have a healthy immune system.
A common complication called a dry socket occurs when a blood clot doesn’t form in the hole or the blood clot prematurely breaks off or breaks down. In a dry socket, the underlying bone is exposed to air and food. This can be very painful and can cause a bad odor or taste. A dry socket needs to be treated with a medicated dressing to stop the pain and encourage the area to heal.
Other potential complications include:
Accidental damage to adjacent teeth, such as fracture
An incomplete extraction, in which a tooth root remains in the jaw — Your dentist usually removes the root to prevent infection, but occasionally it is less risky to leave a small root tip in place.
A fractured jaw (a risk most often encountered in older people with osteoporosis of the jaw) caused by the pressure put on the jaw during extraction
A hole in the sinus during removal of an upper molar. A small hole will usually close up by itself in a few weeks but may require additional surgery if it doesn’t heal spontaneously.
Sustained numbness in the lower lip and chin, caused by trauma to the inferior alveolar nerve (during removal of the lower wisdom teeth). Complete healing of the nerve may take three to six months. In rare cases, the numbness, although not disfiguring, may be permanent.

When To Call a Professional
Call your dentist or oral surgeon if the swelling gets worse instead of better, or you experience fever, chills or redness in the area. If you have an infection, your dentist usually will prescribe antibiotics.
Also call your dentist or oral surgeon if the area of the extraction becomes very painful, a sign that you may have a dry socket. If the area continues to bleed after the first 24 hours, notify your oral surgeon.

Answer 2

I had all 4 out at once when I was 17. I would suggest doing it this way. My dentist had told me that my wisdom teeth probably would never bother me, and I wouldn't need them taken out, however the bottom teeth came in partially impacted, and became infected it was HORRIBLE. I had my top ones out at the same time as the bottom ones, there was a possiblity that the top ones would be okay, but I didn't want to risk them getting inflamed like the bottom ones did. My suggestion would be to have it all done at once and avoid complications in the future. Good luck!!

Answer 3

I think you should get them all taken out at the same time because once you feel how painful the first trip is you won't want to go back. I had all 4 of mine taken out and I'm glad I did because when my teeth were coming in it hurt so bad. Now, I don't have to deal with it and my teeth won't get crowded. Good luck! : )

Answer 4

Just do them all and get it over with. Doing it 2 at a time just extends the pain. Would you rather suffer for 2-3 days or 4-6 days?

However, some dentists recommend 2 at a time just in case there's complications.

Answer 5

Wow... all 4?... u know i wanted to ask ..is it all really necessary?..i mean...i know you can get Gum decease without any symptoms but even though your wisdom teeth may be hard to reach when brushing, isn't it worth keeping unless they really are on the way out!... On another note I dread to think whats beneath my gums... as i am on my way for a deep cleaning (scaling and root planning )... it will be my first time ever...maybe i will have my teeth for an extra few years who knows!... people are saying i should go for it.... destiny awaits :)

Answer 6

a few years ago i had 4 teeth taken out and when i went home they wwere bleeding all day and night i caughed up 20 times

if ya do have all 4 taken out i wish u luck x

Answer 7

i think the dentist himself will not have all 4 extracted at the same time. at most 2 at a time. the after pain of extraction can really hurts. so if you cant bear the pain, don't extract so many at the same time =))

Answer 8

yes, it is safe. i had all four of mine taken out at the same time. they gave me a local anesthesia. but only 1 of my wisdom teeth was infected. its best to get them removed before u get an infection.

Answer 9

It's best to get them all in one shot. What's better, 2 trips or 1?

Answer 10

Recommend one after the other, with a gap of time to recover from every 'operation'!

Answer 11

Ya it's great I did it twice already and am going to do it again.