Wisdom Tooth removal during NS

 

When you are between 17 to 25 years old, you may experience some discomfort or pain in your mouth. This is usually caused by the movement and growing of your wisdom teeth. As such, it is usually a good idea to remove them. Even when no pain is felt, some may opt to remove their wisdom tooth early to prevent the roots from growing in the future and causing complications.

I recently had my wisdom teeth removed and would like to share with you my experiences, and how you can get your wisdom teeth removed too. This blog contains a quick step by step guide specially catered to NSFs who wants to get their wisdom teeth removed during their NS.

 

 Benefits of wisdom tooth extraction

Before I share the steps, you might be wondering why would you want to remove your wisdom teeth during NS. I have listed some benefits you can get.

1.    Reducing Complications

This is a problem that you may face sooner or later. Around 70% of the population will experience wisdom teeth issues later in their life. Instead of waiting for it to become a problem, a timely removal could be beneficial.

2.    Medical Fee covered by 11B

Wisdom teeth removal is expensive. You can take a look at this article on the average cost. In general, it will set you back $700 per tooth, if you were to go to a public hospital. In total, such procedures might cost you upward of $2,000. However, if you are still in NS, all of these fees will be covered.

3.    Medical Leave

Depending on whether you are taking through local anesthesia or general anesthesia, you will receive around 7-14 days of MC.

 

 Setting up your appointment

So how do you set an appointment to get your wisdom teeth removed? There are 2 ways you can go about doing this. 

Medical Center Route

1.    Call your camp’s medical center to book an appointment. Tell them you want to get your wisdom teeth checked.

    During the appointment, your camp's dentist will check your wisdom teeth's condition, and evaluate the need for you to remove your wisdom teeth. If the dentist thinks removal is needed, a referral letter will be produced for you.

Estimated waiting time: 1-2 months

2.    After your appointment at the medical center, you will be given an appointment at a hospital. There will be a few options of hospitals and centres you can choose from, so choose one convenient for you

Estimated waiting time: 1 month

3.    Head to the hospital for your check. Don't forget your 11B and referral letter! They will do an X-ray for you and suggest if you should go for GA or LA. From there, you will book your appointment date for your wisdom tooth removal 

Estimated waiting time: 1 month (GA)/ 2 months (LA)

 

Polyclinic Route

1.    Call in your polyclinic to book an appointment to get a referral letter from them.

Estimated waiting time: 1 week

1.    After your appointment at the polyclinic, you will be given an appointment to a hospital.

Estimated waiting time: 1 month

1.    Head to the hospital for your check. They will do an X-ray for you and suggest if you should go for GA or LA. From there, you will book your appointment date for your wisdom tooth removal 

Estimated waiting time: 1 month (GA)/ 2 months (LA)

 

As you can see, either route takes a few months in the best-case scenario. So my advice is if you want to remove your wisdom teeth before you ORD, do act early. Start booking your appointment 6-7 months before you ORD so that you have a longer runway. Else once you ORD, you will have to foot the bill yourself.

 

My experience

All my wisdom teeth were buried. As such, the dentist at Khoo Teck Puat recommended I remove my teeth via general anesthesia. For those unsure what the difference between general anesthesia (GA) and local anesthesia (LA) is, GA is where you go unconscious during the surgery, whereas LA is where only your mouth will be numbed to reduce the pain. Between GA and LA, GA definitely comes with more risk. You can check up online if you are interested to know the specific risks involved.

My surgery was scheduled for 12pm. After registration, I had to change into the surgery clothes provided. However, my surgery did not start until around 2.30pm, where I was brought to the operating theater. Lying on the operating table, I could feel the warm heat radiating from it together with warm air blowing on my feet with the nurses attached multiple electrodes to my body. Once done, they injected the anesthesia through my hand (it was warm so I could feel it flowing through my bloodstream) and after a few breaths, I fell asleep unknowingly. The next thing I know, I woke up to the sound of a monitor beeping. It took me a while to get reorientated. Once I was up, the nurses monitored me for about 2 hours for any post-operation complications before I was released. I eventually left the hospital around 6.30pm with (thankfully) no complications.

For the next few days after the surgery, I experienced slight pain in my mouth, but not nearly as much pain as my friends who removed their teeth as well. For the next few days, soft food like porridge is recommended, while hot food should be avoided. (Do remember to eat any prescribed medicine, and the painkillers if you feel pain).

A week later, I had my follow up appointment. It was pretty fast, to be honest. The whole process only took around 15min in total. What they did was just to teach me how to clean any trapped food with a syringe they gave, and also to help professionally clean my teeth. (It was also then I found out that my stitches would dissolve themselves. I always thought I had to get them removed.)

 

 Conclusion

That’s all for this guide. I hope you found this article useful. If you have any questions, feel free to message me. I will be glad to help out.