Questions people ask us
Real questions, answered properly, each one written or reviewed by the surgeon with the review date on the page. If your question is not here, call and ask it — the answers on this site come from the questions patients actually ask.
Wisdom teeth
Recovery, impaction, dry socket and what to eat.
How long wisdom tooth recovery actually takes, day by day
Wisdom tooth recovery day by day: when bleeding stops, when swelling peaks, when most patients return to work, and what is still healing at week two.
What an impacted wisdom tooth is, and why position matters
What impaction means, how angle and depth change the operation and the risk, and when an impacted wisdom tooth can be monitored instead of removed.
Dry socket: what it is, the signs, and what to do
Dry socket: why the clot is lost, how the pain pattern differs from ordinary healing, what treatment involves, and what raises the chance of it.
Eating after a tooth extraction, week one
What to eat after a tooth extraction, day by day through the first week, what to avoid while the clot forms, and how to stay nourished on a soft diet.
Wisdom teeth removal: what actually happens
What happens when a wisdom tooth is removed: how the decision is made, what the consultation and scans involve, what consent covers, and the first week.
Pericoronitis: the swollen gum behind your last molar
Pericoronitis: why the gum behind your last molar swells, what self-care helps, the signs it is spreading, and why recurrence changes the decision.
Coronectomy: when the root is deliberately left behind
Coronectomy leaves the roots of a lower wisdom tooth beside the nerve. How the scan decision is made, what the roots do afterwards, and who it is not for.
Wisdom teeth and your medications
Wisdom teeth removal on blood thinners: why stopping is usually wrong, plus bisphosphonates, immunosuppressants, diabetes and what to bring to consultation
When to have wisdom teeth removed
When to have wisdom teeth removed: why age matters more than the season, how to plan around exams, work and travel, and when the date is not yours.
Extraction, coronectomy or monitoring: comparing your options
Extraction, coronectomy or monitoring compared: what each involves, when leaving a wisdom tooth alone is reasonable, and what shifts the decision.
Wisdom teeth and the university break
Planning wisdom teeth removal around a college break: how far ahead to book, the gap before surgery, exams, flying, sport, and who takes you home.
Nerve injury: the risk, and how it is reduced
Numb lip after wisdom tooth surgery: what nerve injury feels like, what raises the risk, what CBCT and coronectomy change, and why to report it today.
Wisdom teeth after 30, 40 and 50
Is it safe to remove wisdom teeth at 40? What changes with age — formed roots, denser bone, slower healing — and when leaving the tooth alone is right.
Swelling and bruising after wisdom teeth: what is normal
How long swelling and bruising last after wisdom teeth removal, why swelling peaks on day two or three, and what separates it from infection.
Bleeding after a tooth extraction: how to stop it
How to stop bleeding after a tooth extraction: correct gauze pressure, the black tea bag, what makes it restart, and when bleeding needs same-day care.
Smoking, vaping and healing after wisdom teeth
When you can smoke after wisdom teeth removal, why vaping and nicotine pouches are not workarounds, cannabis, and what to do if you are not stopping.
Antibiotics after wisdom teeth: when they help and when they do not
When antibiotics are needed after wisdom teeth removal and when they are not: spreading infection, systemic signs, immunosuppression, and cardiac cover.
Pain control after wisdom teeth without opioids
Pain control after wisdom teeth without an opioid: an anti-inflammatory with acetaminophen, when the first dose goes in, ice, and who cannot take one.
Stitches after wisdom teeth: what they do and when they go
When wisdom teeth stitches dissolve, why the socket stays open, what an early-lost stitch means, and how to manage food packing into a healing site.
Upper wisdom teeth and your sinus
Why upper wisdom tooth roots sit against the maxillary sinus, what an oro-antral communication is, when it closes on its own, and why each precaution exist
What a CBCT scan shows, and why one is taken
What a cone-beam scan shows that a panoramic film cannot, what it looks for around a wisdom tooth, its radiation dose in context, and when no scan is neede
Wisdom teeth and pregnancy
Wisdom teeth in pregnancy: why elective removal waits, why infection does not, the second-trimester window, radiographs, and feeding afterwards.
Insurance and cost
Medical versus dental, deductibles, and why estimates move.
When wisdom teeth bill to medical insurance instead of dental
When third molar surgery is a medical claim rather than a dental one, which findings usually cross over, and how the two plans coordinate on one surgery.
What 'deductible remaining' actually means
Deductible remaining: how it differs from coinsurance and the annual maximum, why the figure moves mid-year, and what it means for timing surgery.
Why a dental estimate differs from the final bill
Why a surgery estimate and the final bill differ: clinical findings, claim timing, annual maximums, plan limitations, and how to keep the gap small.
Urgent
What counts as an emergency, and what to do first.
Is this a dental emergency? A checklist
A dental emergency checklist: what needs an emergency room now, what needs same-day care, what can wait for an appointment, and why swelling matters.
Jaw pain on one side, and when it is not your wisdom teeth
Jaw pain on one side: how pericoronitis, a cracked second molar, joint and muscle pain, sinus and ear causes differ, and who to contact first.
Before you decide
Consultations and treatment plans.
What to expect at an oral surgery consultation
What happens at an oral surgery consultation: medication review, examination, imaging, the discussion of options and risks, and the written estimate.
Getting a second opinion before wisdom tooth surgery
Getting a second opinion before wisdom tooth surgery: what to bring, what to ask, how to read a disagreement, and when it changes the plan.