All four of mine were impacted and infected.  Not a fun time. Pain meds were my friends for a few days

The next time I was at my dentist's office, he very seriously said "I've never seen this happen, but your wisdom teeth grew back". When he saw the color draining from my face, he said JUST KIDDING! I think he thought I was going to faint.

This will be a minority view but I would do local with gas. Faster recovery and it should be cheaper. I had a similar situation at age 30 and it was definitely not a breeze. You will need to make sure to get good pain pills, hopefully Demerol or better, something without the nausea side effects of loritab/codeine (you will have a hard time eating for a day or two). Say you're allergic to it. If the oral surgeon tells you to wait an hour after the procedure to take your first pain pill, he's either an idiot or he's trolling you. Take one prior to the procedure, and I recommend taking a second one about an hour afterwards. You will be glad you did. Done correctly, you might not notice much besides a little soreness. You definitely don't want to feel this pain, brother, it's quite unpleasant. And you can forget doing squat for at least a few days, if not a week. Full recovery can take two weeks, and complete healing as long as 6 weeks depending. Make sure you follow all the directions they give you, you definitely do not want to develop a "dry socket."

Good luck.

I'm not calling you out, but this needs to be said.  I've heard this story at least a dozen times.  It's up there with "the roots were wrapped around my jaw" when it comes to crazy patient stories.  I know a lot of dentists, some of them very old school, and have never, once, met one who did this, or a person who knows a person who has done this.  Extracting teeth has almost nothing to do with strength and almost everything to do with leverage.  There is no logical reason that any dentist would ever need to take their foot off the ground to extract a tooth, and it wouldn't help if they did.  

And, just for the record, it is very rare for someone to have general anesthesia for extraction of their wisdom teeth.  OP, I can almost guarantee that what you, and everybody talking about general anesthesia in this thread, are going to have is IV sedation.  There are some oral surgeons who are equipped to do general anesthesia in their office, but they're the exception, and they're usually not going through the hassle for something as routine as a wisdom tooth extraction.

Had all four taken out at once when I was 30.  They never bothered me, but one dentist insisted that they come out.  I think many dentist are just saying that for nowadays as SOP.  Even the terms they use to describe the condition (erupted/impacted) make them sound bad.  "OMG!! My wisdom teeth are erupted/impacted I'd better get to the ER!"

Wasn't as bad as I thought.  Lived off mashed potatos and pudding for 2-weeks.  I took it real carefully followed Dr's instructions to the letter as the last thing I wanted was some complication.

I never filled the Vicodin script.  The pain and soreness was far more desirable than the loopy, hung-over feeling of that nasty stuff.

general anesthesia is what is on the list.

I am also being prescribed Norco? for pain.  I've never heard of it.

like I said, it's unusual, but not unheard of.  A surgeon who has a surgical suite in his office is going to do general anesthesia a lot more than a guy who has to take you to a hospital OR to do it.  

Norco is Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen (Tylenol).  It's the same drug as Vicodin or Lortab.  He'll probably recommend an anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen too.  The anti-inflammatory is actually more important for your healing than the Norco.

It is an oral and maxillofacial surgical center, so I'm guessing it's routine?  I get amoxicillian, norco, and medrol.

Well, I don't know what to tell you. I don't have video of it or anything. Maybe my dentist didn't get your memo.
FWIW, this was done in 1981 and that is exactly what happened. No IV, no general anesthesia. It was done with me awake in a dentist's chair in his office. And he absolutely put his knee up on the arm of the chair.

And when I got done, I drove my 1974 Pinto to work. My mouth was numb. When the novocaine wore off I realized I was in for a long day.

Believe me or not, changes nothing for me.
You not calling me out is in fact, you calling me out.
Maybe there is a  reason you have heard it a dozen times.

And that's exactly why most dentists will just nod and not say anything when you tell them the story.  I really wasn't calling you out and have no delusions about changing your mind.  Just felt the need to address that urban legend for someone who read your post and thought "OMG I don't want the guy putting his knee on my chest."  

The foot on the chest thing is like the guy at the shooting range who swears his grandfather was the first Navy Seal Delta Ranger on the beach at Normandy, but his mission was so secret that there's no official record of his Medal of Honor for personally killing Hitler.   Maybe it's true, maybe it's not.  But you're not going to change their mind.  

How would you change my mind ?
I was there, you weren't.

And nobody but you said anything about a knee on the chest.

I think you're wrong about pulling wisdom teeth just to drum up business. I have 3 wisdom teeth left after an extraction, my DDS wants them out because of the eventuality that they will grow into the molars next to them but he won't do it. He's done thousands of extractions (he's in his 70's), but won't touch them because if there is a problem the first thing a lawyer asks him in court is "Are you the most qualified person in the area to have performed this procedure?" So, he farms them out to oral surgeons. Doesn't make a dime on them.

When I got to the oral surgeon, he didn't want to remove the others and said that I'm good to leave them in as long as they weren't bothering me. I told my DDS this and he holds up my Xray and says, "yeah, he didn't want to take the risk of giving you paresthesia because the tooth is close to the nerve running down your jaw.

Point is, there are a lot of reasons DDS's and oral surgeons do and don't do tooth extractions.

Surgery is off.  I will find other places to get hard prices.

$2860.  Nope.

The break down is "4 part bony wisdom teeth"-$2300
General Anesthesia-$560

I'm not paying nearly a grand more than the high end estimates from other places that I called.  No wonder they don't give a price there.  

ETA: I will call Monday and see if they can do $1800-2200 cash which puts it in the range that I was expecting.

just fyi:  most offices will not quote prices over the phone. The cost you mention for 4 partial bony impactions isn't bad if they're being done by an oral surgeon and you don't have insurance.  $560 is extremely low if they're actually doing general anesthesia.  Just for reference, that's about what my office charges for oral conscious sedation, which is a couple steps less complicated than general anesthesia.



Where are you getting the $1800-2200 range?
 

Phone estimates that have seen the x rays. From local offices.

well, good luck.  But I can tell you in a lot of offices, if you said "Dr. X down the street says he'll do it for $xxxx" the response will be something along the lines of "well you're welcome to have your treatment there."  



 

Just had one wisdom tooth removed at the oral surgeon, cost $508 out the door. $323 for the removal and $185 for a bullshit 30 second "consultation". This was a wisdom tooth that was already mostly out so no cutting was involved.

This was with just the shot in the gums for pain and didn't hurt at all either during or after.

Get it done. Its not that bad, I had 4 taken out a few weeks ago. You'll be back in actoin within a few days, I only needed pain meds for 1 1/2 days. Go for the twilight sedation, it is wonderful.

People actually drink that green label stuff? I thought it was just to make the shelf look pretty.

Arrived at 2pm taken back at 210 after paying cash which no discount was offered, Iv sedation given , woke up looked at clock 240.  Sat for a minute, had vitals taken, walked out, picked up pizza on ride home now just chilling while holding an ice pack.  Tongue and cheeks are numb, but I feel just fine other than being starving which I'll eat at 4.

Pizza fail.  Csnt feel my tongue.