Oral Surgery on coumadin

[Sunshine susan]

Hi everyone! I have been a member for ages (one of the originals along with Ross, Hank, Rain, Christina, etc....) and lurk a good bit, but don't say much any more as so many of you have already said it all so well to so many! Now I have a question/concern that I know has been addressed here, but I couldn't find consistent enough hard knocks info to help pull together my thoughts. So here it is as summmarily as possible:

I had AVR 6 years ago with a St. Judes and am on coumadin. The surgery and recovery was text book good, and I have little problems with the coumadin--ie., stay in range most of the time, no bleeding, etc. However, now my mitral valve is leaking, I think in increasing readings, but my cardio says we don't have to do anything about it "yet". Ominous. He's wonderful, love him and have all faith in him.

Now, I have two wisdom teeth left that need to come out and which I should have done years ago, but..... One on the top is broken and has a cavity which is the reason it is an issue, and of course, the bottom one has to come out with it. My cardio feels the best measure is to go into the hospital and do the heperin or lovenox thing. I think infection was also a concern. I went to an oral surgeon that I ended up not really liking as I felt he really didn't want to be bothered with me, but also would only do it in the hospital. Both said that if it isn't bothering me why do it, but my dentist reminded me of the cavity that will have to be filled if I don't and the possibility that the tooth could fall apart creating other issues. As Gilda Radner used to say "It's always something!".

I am sure there are those of you out there who have faced or are facing the same or similar situation. So the next issue is the insurance thing. I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical and a dental coverage which is okay but not great. Two questions: 1) what has been your experiences with the oral surgery itself--hospital as out-patient or in-patient (a choice?) and 2) how was it handled insurance wise? Such as what kind of $$ outlay could be involved.

Because my upper tooth is bothering me some, I am really starting to stress out about it--largely because of all the tiddly things like having to miss work, insurance matters, $$ outlay, pain & aggravation, etc. I figured I could find some good information here as to others' experience with this.

Sorry I went on so long and thanks for any information and advice!

Susan

 

[Georgia]

Don't know why the bottom has to come out with the top.

My wisdom teeth removals were awful; all impacted; all done in the dentist's office. Should have had them removed in the hospital with a general anesthetic.

However, there's no comparison between the uppers & lowers. The upper jaw is porous and never hardens like the lower. Therefore extraction is much easier and healing much less painful. So if you don't have any problem with your lower tooth, I'd just have the upper extracted. Probably won't cause much trouble; and I wonder if you'd really need to stop the coumadin (I'm assuming it's not impacted since you have a cavity in it).

 

[Guest]

My guess is that you will need a pre-certification from your insurance company but that you will get it because of your valve and the procedure. Call the toll-free number on the back of your insurance card and ask the patient service rep the questions. That way you will know exactly what applies to you as far as $$ and expectations.