"Even with insurance, the co-pay on wisdom tooth extraction is typically 50%, because such procedures are typically (not always) preventable by proper dental care."
Wait, what? It's true that under most dental coverage you pay a percentage (and not a flat co-pay) on oral surgery, but for the life of me, I don't understand the idea that the need for wisdom tooth extraction is ever preventable by proper dental care. No amount of brushing and flossing is going to prevent your body from throwing extra teeth in your mouth in your late 20s.
If anything, proper dental care means none of your teeth will have fallen out, so when your wisdom teeth come in they have nowhere to go and get impacted and then decayed and then infected.
Wait, what? It's true that under most dental coverage you pay a percentage (and not a flat co-pay) on oral surgery, but for the life of me, I don't understand the idea that the need for wisdom tooth extraction is ever preventable by proper dental care. No amount of brushing and flossing is going to prevent your body from throwing extra teeth in your mouth in your late 20s.
If anything, proper dental care means none of your teeth will have fallen out, so when your wisdom teeth come in they have nowhere to go and get impacted and then decayed and then infected.