German dentists and wisdom teeth

Funilly enough I'm just feeding my ex soup as he had a wisdom tooth out today...

Slowly patients are getting a little more influence.
I've mentioned it before but when I HAD to have my second one out I asked my dentist NOT to gve me a referal to the butcher at Marienplatz.
And he told me he had heared so many bad reports about that practice he no longer referred to them. Good.

I just paid 80euros for what I think was a root canal, a filling and fixing a chipped tooth. I went in 3 weeks ago as my face has swelled up and I was in pain and she seemed to know what she was doing. She also spoke quite good English and explained what she was doing as she went along which put me at ease (I hate dentists!).

I can't find her card, although her practice is on Hanselmannstr. in Milbertshofen and she is Dr. Betz.

Does anyone know if 80euros was about the right amount to pay? Seeing as I didn't have much choice in the matter as I looked like elephant woman and was in pain!

€80 is dirt cheap for that kind of work. Or do you have state insurance? Because then the €80 are your contribution to some fancy filling or other, but still well cheap.

80 for a rootcanal and filling, that is super cheap, was it actually a rootcanal or just a root draining?

I can't speak German so they could have told me I was having my entire set of teeth removed and I wouldn't have known!

I went in 3 weeks ago with a swollen face after my tooth had hurt a bit. She drilled the tooth and said to leave it a week and not bite on it, then I went back a week later and she drilled some more with what looked like mini files and put 'red sticks' in to the tooth (about 4 of them). Then she left it a week and today she put a filling over the top and told me to wait till it cracks before I get a crown on it. So I have googled it and I think it was a root canal and the dentist didnt know the english.

I am from the UK and I think I might have some sort of emergency insurance with work, though I didnt think it covered dental work.

All the fillings were white though, which in the UK you have to pay extra for?

If you paid 80 euros, you surely have some other type of insurance that you presented them with. One root canal will cost over 1000 euros all up. Also, if they did a "root canal" in one session, I doubt it actually was a root canal. Normally they drill it out and pack it and you have to come back a few times (or at least once) before they put a permanent filling in there.

I went there 3 times! I gave my EHIC card and I was sent there from work but no details were taken about work (the German doc. there just gave her my name and made the appointment).

sounds like you did get a rootcanal, and you got it at a good price too.

If you have a European Health care card (EHIC) then that was your insurance. They will bill the NHS in the UK. What you paid for was probably a better filling or something.

Anyway, you've still had an excellent deal cause its so hard to see a dentist at all in the UK, let alone a good one. Over here the standards are far superior. I've suggested to friends who want to get some work done to just get this card and come for a holiday over here. You'll get top quality work with better materials (there is no such thing as metal fillings here unlike in the UK), no waiting and it'll cost you basically nothing.

Only if they qualify as an emergency, though.

Maybe Jason should have looked at this thread before having his wisdom teeth pulled on thursday - he looked awful last night with both cheeks swollen.

Excellent thread -- I´ll have to try out some of the dentists that have been suggested here. I have to admit that, after 8 years of living in Germany, I still try to get appointments back in Utah when I visit the fam. I´ve tried various dentists here, but the German-trained dentists seem to really be butchers. They are not thorough, they don´t do a thorough cleaning, they don´t believe in preventive care, telling you to let the tooth rot away rather than drilling a bit to fill a cavity. They don´t explain what they are doing, and they rip you off. I asked the price of cleaning and the price in the end was tripled because I apparently have "especially hard plaque". Never heard that in my nearly 30 years of dentist´s visits. Oh, and some things appeared on the bill which I know for sure they didn´t do. Comes from being a privately insured foreigner.

When I has my wisdom teeth out in the States, I was awake but on laughing gas and shots. It´s kind of strange to hear the cracking of bone, see your head being pulled from side to side, and not caring. I couldn´t feel fluids on my face, but at some point a trickle got on my neck and I recall absently wondering whether it was blood, or just saliva. Afterwards, I had some Codeine (nice stuff). The only thing is that it took a long time for it to completely heal. For months after the stitches came out, I had a weird taste coming out of the healing wounds.

Oh, I´ve even been to an American dentist here in Munich, across from the Staatsoper. I was deeply disappointed with him, as well.

If you get the chance, go to an American dentist (just not that one). The professional training seems to be superior and makes a big difference

well, that dentist did finally get a part time American trained Dental hygienist, she works wed afternoons there. So, things are looking up.

hopefully. I seem to remember getting a non-thorough cleaning there, too.

That´s not where you work, is it, Carm?

nope, I work at www.z-z-m.de a huge private clinic in Bogenhausen.

I should confirm I was an emergency, otherwise I don't think I would have been seen as easily. Though she did fix a chip I made between the visits, so whether that was just a favour or whether I paid extra I don't know.

A friend of mine had her wisdom teeth out here in Germany and she said that they would not knock her out and that she felt some of it, and then for pain meds they gave her basically regular strength advil.

I just got two of my four Wisdom teeth pulled. I had a small gum inflammation before because my lower right wisdom tooth was trying to break out of the gum. I was prescribed an antibiotic and a painkiller (they really helped!) and I was also asked to get the wisdom teeth pulled "because they might cause problems again in future". The X-ray showed that they were not impacted (they were coming out parallel to their neighboring teeth, and were not too close to them, so not impacted in my opinion) but were hidden beneath what I think is gum. I went to an oral surgeon (Dr. Schmid, Medeco dental clinic, Dahlem, Berlin) and he asked me to get "at least" the two wisdom teeth on the right side (lower and upper) pulled although only the lower one was causing trouble.
Today afternoon I had the two teeth removed under local anesthesia, and the procedure was far from being painless. Now 4 hours after the operation I have taken a painkiller and the pain seems to be manageable. Strangely enough, I am having occasional bleeding from nose today since the operation. Lets see how it goes ahead. After reading others experiences, I consider myself lucky to have such a relatively problem free experience.

I went to see 2 dentists this week for consultations, got an X-ray at both, one said my wisdom teeth should be pulled, the other said nothing about them. They are not othering me in the slightest, so I'm not going to take them out, sounds like a whole bunch of pain for nothing to me...

If they don't hurt, don't get them pulled. If you're over 25-30 the chances are really low that they'll try to break out of the gum.

Unfortunately I'm falling in that category so they are definitely staying put, it kinda put me off the second dentist as I felt they may just be trying to get some extra business...

I am sure that there is some truth in this...

Slightly OT but: yesterday I ran the Schleswig-Holstein gliding conference & since some year we run this at the Rheumaklinik in Bad Bramstedt. We get the rooms for free as the Chefarzt is an active glider pilot... My back gives some pain at time (lifting heavy things like wing roots...) so I asked him if he was "zuständig" for things like back backs. Yes said he how are you insured? Oh dear sez I: private. You should have seen his face light up. Twas same at previous dentist I had - current one doesnt seem to try it on...

not true, depending on how they are laying they (the wisdom teeth) can still creat alot of problems periodontally (gum infection).

My boyfriend just got a couple of wisdom teeth taken out. On the instructions from the oral surgeon, it says he shouldn't eat dairy products for 3-4 days afterwards. Just curious as to why this is? As he stocked up on yoghurt before he had them out!

Bacteria. Yogurt is just one of the stages of milk spoilage.

[stopwatch clicks to time the first negative flame reply and prove a point to someone looking over my shoulder as I type this]

That's interesting. Our 15 yr old is in the process of having his wisdom teeth extracted - first one came out on Monday and he wasn't given any explicit instructions at all except not to smoke or drink alcohol, neither of which he does anyway (as far as we know )

No negative flame reply here, but women taking antibiotics are encouraged to eat plain yogurt (or take acidophilus tablets) to avoid getting a yeast infection. I do know about not taking antibiotics with milk but I thought that was because the milk inhibits the effectiveness.

I had my wisdom teeth taken out when I was 16. They were all in straight, but my parents freaked out that I would need braces again if they were not removed soon. I have a small oral arch and had 4 teeth removed at 12 for braces. I have not heard of a dentist or oral surgeon yet say they are important to keep. The longer you wait to have them removed the more difficult it can be.

Definitely use an Oral Surgeon. My doctor was great an Oral Surgeon and an Lawyer- talk about a huge brain. Ask to be asleep during the procedure. You will remember nothing and that is what you want. The smells and sounds of the procedure will be something you do not want to remember, trust me. I have warned many people, some of the did not listen and more than once I have been told they wish the listened to that advice. Just think how much faster you will heal with a positive state of mind.

Good luck with your decision.

You're right on the antibiotics ... it's the calcium in milk that inhibits the effectiveness. I'll edit ccordingly.

I stand by the infection thing for the teeth.

Sure, that makes perfect sense, I'm just wondering why we weren't told about it.

because that is an old school thought!
I just asked our surgeon and he laughed and said, that is so archaic, cannot believe people still believe that.

depends on the antibiotic, we have always told patients to take AB with yougurt as not upset the stomach as badly.

OK, I guess we have a really hip, modern dentist then. The extraction was a breeze , only took 20 minutes, and my son only had a bit of discomfort for a couple of days. He went back to be checked yesterday and everything was fine. Not a big deal at all.

sometimes they are easy, sometimes not!
My brother had all 4 out at once and went that night to the bar... I was 2 days in hospital with mine.

It really depends on the way the teeth are and on the dentist. Unfortunately our eldest daughter had her wisdom teeth out in Germany - was half butchered by a miserable female dentist near to Bonn. I should have sued her.
Second one had to have her teeth out at the beginning of her A level year - she was having lots of pain as they were growing sideways into the roots of the next teeth, had not cut through the gums. The oral/maxillofacial surgeon in the UK was brilliant, she stayed w my parents as we were somewhere else overseas, and had no problems.
Youngest daughter had hers out in Nam, also no problems, healed v quickly.
The second one had serious problems re the wisdom teeth, the other two just didn't have the space for them, once they had completely come through, they would have pushed the other teeth out of line.

everyone heals differently! that is the point! you cannot compare apples and pears.... healing, the teeth, the age, the alignment, and most importantly the patient tolerance and pain threshold!

Yes but the capability and techniques of the dentists vary enormously. Some of them shouldn't be let loose on live people.

I agree with this statement. I had two wisdom teeth extracted this year and the oral surgeon was very skilled. I had minimal discomfort and swelling afterward, no infection, and was able to carry on with my life the next day.

Due to fear I had cancelled the appointment several times. I joked with the oral surgeon afterward by saying "Doc I think you've must've done this kind of surgery before because you are very good at this". He laughed and I took my icepacks and happily left his office.