15 year old DD needs four teeth removed for braces to be fitted. GA?

[Worried234]

Does anyone know if back molars are extracted under regional or general anaesthesia? My DD is 15 and starts orthodontic treatment in a few weeks. She will have her four 'corner' back molars removed, and then when that has healed, a fixed brace.

She's worried about the extraction. I had the same four teeth out at a similar age, but that was years ago, I'm 45 now so I'm sure procedures have changed.

Does anyone know anything about the procedure, and if a GA can be requested? I have told DD that I suspect not, but just looking for any advice or knowledge.

Thank you.

GA has its risks and I would only want DC to have it in a hospital setting where they are properly equipped if things went south with it. I don't actually know if GA for kids can be done outside of hospital? I would speak to the dentist/ orthodontist where the extractions are to be done if she is very worried.

I had all my wisdom teeth removed under local but I requested this be done in hospital as didn't trust my then dentist. Three were taken out then the last a decade later in a dentist. The first three must have been a sight to behold as it takes a lot of force but I didn't feel any pain or discomfort during it and was fine after. I was also given co codamol though didn't need it and don't think it gets given any more.

The last one was removed privately in the practice by a visiting specialist. It was horrendous afterwards for quite a while it was literally on its side and close to nerve so different position to first three. Thought I was being such a baby about the pain days later but went back and was told it was dry root?

GA or sedation . I had 2 out as a teenager with laughing gas which was fine.
DS had 1 removed with just local . An absolute nightmare. The fantastic dentist found it really difficult to get out despite 4 lots of injections . It was so stressful for DS. Would never put my teen through 4 under LA.

DD had the visible ones done under local anaesthetic and the ones growing at right angles into the jaw bone under general anaesthetic. Having seen the aftermath of both procedures I would recommend the local if they can do it under local.

You'd be waiting 1.5 to 2yrs for an extraction under GA at hospital. My soon to be 16yr old is coming up to 1.5yrs now and still no appointment.

I’m having a molar removed under sedation next month at the nhs hospital. I’ve had to wait two years for the appointment.

That's shocking to read how long some people have had to wait for tooth extraction under GA.

My dd needed 4 teeth to be removed before she had her braces. It was supposed to be under LA but she panicked and refused.

There's 1 hospital in my county that seems to specialise in teeth extraction under GA so she was referred there. This was a few years ago so I can't remember the exact time but the wait was only a matter of weeks, certainly not months, let alone years.

Yes, good point about wait time. Waiting for the hospital appointment for the GA delayed DD getting braces by about a year.

DD’s teeth were a mess as her baby teeth didn’t fall out so her adult teeth grew over the top like a shark. So she had to have all of her baby teeth taken out then 4 molars. All done under local in two visits. She was really brave and all was fine. Am sure your DD will manage. The safest thing is under local. Not pleasant but 2 years later she has beautiful straight teeth so all worth it! Get some ulcer treatment in for when the brace first goes in as it tends to run and cause ulcers.

My mum had four wisdom teeth out and it was general, that was nhs.

@Worried234 i know this is old but it cane up when i googled for advice. can I ask why did he need them removed? Did he have supernumeracy teeth ? Or the normal amount and now he's left with less adult teeth than standard? Thankyou

I had 4 molars removed before braces, and have no gaps now. My teeth were very very overcrowded (and still a bit crowded on the front bottom, even after the removal of two teeth!). It's very common to have teeth removed for orthodontic work, so I don't think your experience is typical.

Hi.

As it turned out she only needed two teeth removed, near the back at the top. She had a severe overbite and a moderate overjet. DD now has had fixed braces on her top and bottom teeth for a few months. He teeth have moved already.

The extraction wasn't pleasant, but nowhere near as bad as she was expecting.

She now las less than the standard amount of adult teeth.

All seems well so far - although she dislodged a bracket eating a lollipop last week, which is on the list of foods to avoid!

Glad it went well - I was going to comment with my (positive) experience of having 4 molars out with local anaesthetic as a teenager but I was too late! I’m now 35 and I’m glad I had it done, now my wisdom teeth are all in I don’t think I would have had enough room for all the teeth I should have had

In my area and several others I know you cannot be referred for a GA for orthodontic extractions unless there is a surgical need . The referral is automatically rejected even before you send the electronic form in.

The waiting list for children’s GA in my area , for children in pain from abcesses etc , is two plus years. GA can only be given in hospital and since only a couple can be done in a session the waiting list is ever expanding.

In my area if a child will not have local to have their tooth out , unless it is a surgical necessity to have GA , they will not have a brace.n

I would never remove healthy teeth for aesthetics. Those molars could well be needed in later life if the other ones fail and have to be removed.

I had that molar (just one) removed this year and it wasn’t an easy extraction though I had it done in the dentist chair, the wait for general is very long. I would question the removal though unless decayed, I have a big gap with it removed. Seems radical to me

It’s soooo common for orthodontic reasons here though? Are you in the UK? No alternative is really offered. Maybe if you’re able to go private there another option but I asked can we do anything without removing teeth and was told no.

Overcrowding can cause other issues itself too I thought.

It would normally be done over two visits under a LA...Two removed one week, the last two removed another and then treatment can begin.

It is very, very common. Many of my children's friends, and now one of my own children have had extractions for braces.

I agree with this. I didn’t have braces, nor did any of my friends, so I didn’t know removing healthy teeth for braces was a thing until fairly recently. It seems pretty barbaric.

Not at all. Since Neolithic times peoples jaws have been getting smaller and smaller and this process has accelerated since we have industrialised. To put it simply we no longer have to have powerful jaws to chew tough food and our bread etc no longer has grit in it that wears our teeth down.

The consequence of that is we have small jaws but with teeth that more than fill that space.

For SOME dental problems if you can get arch expansion in on a child before the pre pubertal growth spurt you can guide the jaw growth and avoid extractions or as many extractions.

Certainly far fewer teeth are extracted for braces now than 30 years ago when you routinely take four premolars out on everyone . However there are many, many cases when extractions are the only way to make space to move teeth.

My DD had 4 teeth out for braces, hers were badly overcrowded and growing on top of each other though. She's had the braces on for 18 months now and her teeth are beautiful and straight, she's just got a couple of tiny gaps to close up now so we're hoping they will be off by the end of this year. I think one of the reasons they extract is in case any wisdom teeth come through later and push everything back out of place, that happened to my colleague's daughter after all her orthodontic work.

Dd had teeth out fur braces - just local anaesthetic. The roots were enormous but she was fine. No issues at all

It’s not always fur arstetics - that’s not the whole reason teeth are removed or why kids have braces

I wouldn’t let my child have a general anaesthetic at a regular dentist.