How Much Does Wisdom Teeth Removal Cost?

One of the major dental concerns of adolescence and young adulthood is how to handle wisdom teeth, which generally begin breaking through the gum line in a patient’s late teens or early 20s.

But there can be complications with wisdom teeth eruption that can cause pain and result in lasting damage to your mouth. The most common complication with wisdom teeth is that they will become impacted.

Impacted wisdom teeth can cause a number of health problems:

Tooth damage – When the mouth does not have enough space for a fully formed wisdom tooth the wisdom tooth collides with the rear molars when it erupts. This can damage the rear molars and require orthodontic treatments to straighten out the teeth that were displaced.

Cysts – The wisdom tooth emerges from a compartment within the jawbone. When the tooth becomes impacted the compartment can fill with fluid, forming a cyst that can damage the jawbone, teeth and nerves.

Decay – Partially impacted wisdom teeth are more prone to cavities than other teeth. Wisdom teeth are harder to clean so food particles and bacteria get trapped between the gum and a partially erupted tooth.

Gum disease – Partially erupted wisdom teeth are difficult to clean which makes them more susceptible to gum disease.

To avoid the perils of the wisdom teeth eruption many dentists recommend the removal of all four wisdom teeth as soon as they begin to surface.

How Much Does Wisdom Tooth Removal Cost?

The cost of wisdom teeth extraction can vary depending on the procedure’s degree of difficulty:

• If the tooth has fully emerged from the gum and has simple roots it will require a local anesthetic and removal will cost about $75-$200 per tooth
• Impacted wisdom teeth are more expensive to remove, extraction using a local anesthetic can cost $225-$600 per tooth. Using nitrous oxide $40-$90; or general anesthetic can add $250-$800 to the total cost.

The cost of impacted wisdom teeth removal depends on how the tooth is impacted:

• Soft tissue impaction – the tooth has partially erupted through the gum; the least expensive to remove
• Partial bony impaction – some of the tooth that should be above the gum line is encased in the jawbone; typically more expensive
• Full bony impaction – the tooth is totally encased in the jawbone; the most expensive form of impaction to remove

Do you need your wisdom teeth removed? JBR Clinical Research is currently conducting a clinical research study of an investigational pain medication given after wisdom teeth removal. Those who are selected to participate in the study shall receive study-related medication and treatment at no cost to them, including wisdom teeth removal at our Salt Lake City, Utah location.