Cost of Wisdom Teeth 

Often the removal of wisdom teeth is covered to some extent by either dental insurance or medical insurance. Your insurance usually does not cover the full cost of the procedure and consultation.

Our staff files your insurance for you, and will obtain your benefits. Our insurance coordinator, is proficient at this process and will aim to achieve your maximum benefits.

A note on insurance plans:

Insurance plans provide benefits to all providers unless “out-of-network” benefits are not provided – such as with a “Closed HMO or DMO.”  The majority of patients have PPO plans that provide out-of-network benefits, for which we can obtain reimbursement for you. Their “preferred providers”, meaning their list of doctors accept a discounted reimbursement for encouraging patients to see them. These providers get reimbursed approximately 50% of their normal fees. They are preferred by the insurance company, but may not necessarily be preferred by you.

This concept of requiring their providers to accept a 50-60% discount on reimbursement possibly requires them to cut corners, work with less staff, schedule many more patients, often twice as many on a given surgery schedule, to make ends meet. This concept often causes over-treating or billing for unneeded services. We would not be able to deliver proper and quality care in this environment, without sacrificing our values and integrity.

We do accept benefits from all insurance companies. However, we are not contracted to accept their discounted fees and services. In summary, we don’t accept discounted “in- network” dental/medical benefits, but we do accept your insurance. However, we file your insurance on your behalf, and you will receive benefits paid by your insurance.

Your insurance company will still pay benefits to you/us for your procedure.

Factors affecting cost:

Every patient’s situation is different. We offer a consultation prior to the surgery if you would like to have a better idea of your costs and meet the doctors. These are the factors that affect the cost:

• Dental Imaging – usually a panorex radiograph is needed
• Anesthesia Used (general or sedation)
• Number of Teeth Extracted – typically 4, but can range from 1 to 6
• Level of Impaction.

We have a staff member that can file your insurance for you, and also check your benefits. If you do your consultation at the time of surgery – we will file the insurance that day for the consultation and procedure.

If you have insurance – we will typically collect a co-payment, and file your insurance on your behalf. Depending upon what they pay – you may owe money afterward, or receive a refund.

Our office is not contracted with any insurance companies at their discounted rate. So we will be out of network. However – unless your insurance is a closed DMO or HMO where you have no option to pick alternative providers – your insurance company will provide benefits for you for services covered in our office.

Insurance usually takes 30-40 business days to process. Please feel free to give our insurance coordinator a call if you have any questions.