For many parents, it’s not figuring out insurance details or wondering if their children do or don’t need wisdom teeth removal that causes stress. It’s the planning of the experience that causes the most frustration. In addition to needing time to come into our practice for third molar extractions, you also need to consider rescheduling daily activities, to ensure your child will have time to recover, and then some. Believe it or not, we’ve been doing this for a long time and have some helpful suggestions to make it a simple process!
Find Out If They Need It First
Before you start worrying about how on earth you will be able to shift daily schedules around to bring your son or daughter in for wisdom teeth removal, it’s important to remember that not everyone needs it. To begin, we will need to examine a patient’s smile to determine how the wisdom teeth are doing. A few things might happen:
- Your child will not have wisdom teeth, so there is no need for removal
- Your child’s teeth are developing just fine, so there is no need for removal
- Your child’s wisdom teeth are impacted or are on an angle, so they will require removal
Schedule Removal During Breaks
We love reminding parents that there are some very convenient and lengthy breaks throughout the school year that can make scheduling a visit and recovery time a walk in the park! Remember that the winter holidays are a wonderful time during which your kids have time off (and you might, too). The same is true for summer vacation. Take everyone’s time off into account and schedule accordingly. True, your son or daughter might not love the idea of wisdom teeth removal as a way to spend break (but they’ll thank you for it later).
