Help! Can someone please enlighten me.......

[SherBear Nuke Mom (ET)]

on why they remove their wisdom teeth while they are in bootcamp, whether they need it or not? Should I have them done before or wait?

[supernavymommy(PIR MAY 04/04/811]

Of course I am of the thinking do it before. There seems to be 60% of kids that get it done and have some problems of infections or hating the dentist. Then the others don't have problems. I would must ratter have my sons taken out at home since he will not have to worry about being recycled or fighting the boot camp cold that most get. I know that if you have them pulled then the workouts stop of a bit. 

I know you will have to follow up with the recruiter but so. Also I have been told that they tell you will be kicked out and a bunch of silly stuff but I think it will work out if you do it ahead of time. Just google on this site and you will info from recruits and parents.

[Craig]

Just to chime in.

-  you are required to tell the recruiter that you are going or had a medical procedure.  They might tell you that you need another MEPS screening for whatever part of the body you did work on.  Failure to disclose this could result in being a fraudulent enlistment.

- As basic as getting wisdom teeth pulled, the Navy is kind-of like an insurance company.  If you choose to get your teeth pulled in the civilian sector, the the Navy will never be responsible for that area that was given surgery for your entire career. 

- If problems did happen, then the Navy would be required to pay a disability pay for the rest of the sailors life because it was a "service related disability".  The civilian sector doesn't do this.  However, if problems in that area of the mouth happen later in the sailors career (ie cancer), then the Navy will say it was a pre-existing condition, and is not require to pay any disability.

- the Navy doesn't teach dentistry to doctors.  They are all civilian trained just like your own dentist.  When they graduated some chose the civilian path, they chose the military path.  Ask your own denist how many of their classmates decided to denists in the military.  I bet a lot.  

- I know some of you will say, "the military dentist joined because they sucked and couldn't find a job in the civilian world".  My answer to that is "is this why you son/daughter joined too?".   

- to me it's a no-brainer, why pay the cost or possibility ruining your options in the future.  But as others said, this debate will go on forever.  The apron strings need to be cut at sometime. Later in their career, you just can't fly your sailor home from the Indian Ocean to have dental work done.  Get them to trust a military doctors now.  

Lastly, I run a Navy deppers forum, www.NavyDEP.com.  I have yet to hear of any recruit saying they wished they had their pulled prior to boot camp.  In fact, all of them were thankful to get the time off in boot camp to rest.  

I know moms and dads just want to look out after their kids.  That's a good thing.  If you have a extra $2K laying around to get the wisdom teeth pulled, then that's ok.  The bottomline is just follow the rules.  The recruit is REQUIRED to inform their recruiter prior to having their teeth pulled and may have to go back to MEPS.

[SherBear Nuke Mom (ET)]

Wow Craig, thanks for chiming in! 

I hadn't thought of some of those things..........from what I have read here, he may or may not have them pulled in boot camp.  He does worry about falling behind or being singled out as weak while in boot camp. He will go to Nuke School after boot camp and if he does NOT have them out during bootcamp, will most likely have them taken out before he is finished there.

As for out of pocket expenses, there won't be any. The Insurance will cover 100%, so that's not an issue either.

He isn't the one worried about complications, I am :)

But after reading what you said, I had him come and read it too and told him the decision is his.  I explained that if the military does it, they are liable.  If the private dentist does it and there are complications.......then THAT could delay him leaving just like any other injury he would incur prior.

 

Thanks for giving me more to think about............

any advice on what Power of Atty papers I need to have done BEFORE he leaves in Sept besides the banking one?

 

Sherri B

 

 

[Craig]

Sherri - Have your son come talk to me at NavyDEP.com.  I have an active duty Nuke that is currently in "A" school in Goose Creek.  His user name is prop827.  Just have your son hit him up for the answers to his Nuke questions.  Prop827 is a great sailor.

If he need regular Navy questions have him talk to kforbs126.  Kristen has been in 3 years.  She a normal ET (non-nuke).  She is loaded with answers too....

[SherBear Nuke Mom (ET)]

I do have a user name over on NavyDEP, but I just lurk and read stuff and share with my son. I will direct him over there to join.

[Craig]

btw: Here is the one stop shop for POA's.  Just get a General one and edit what you need.  That should work for everything, however you might need to do a HIPAA form also....

http://www.navydep.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=214

[SherBear Nuke Mom (ET)]

Thanks, got them! I printed the Gen one and will take it with us to the bank when we go....

[Concernedad]

Craig, I know you have much more involvement and experience than I do, but I still respectfully disagree.

I doubt anyone is saying ALL Navy doctors are bad, and I think comparing them to our own sailors is unfair. While many sailors turn out great, there are some who don't make the cut, and I would have to imagine the same is true when it comes to Navy dentists. It's like buying earthquake insurance, the odds are 9999999.8% in my favor that I will never need it, but it only takes one earthquake to make it all worthwhile. So, assuming 99% of the dentists do a great job during P-week and 99% of the SR's have no ill effect other than taking a day or two of sick time, do you really want to be the one who explains to that 1% Mom as to why her son had to be sent home because of complications?

I still stand by my decision that having my local dentist, who we've known for year, doing the procedure and giving my son plenty of time to recuperate in advance was a far better choice than taking the risk. Just my opinion.

[Keta Laz]

Goodmorning Sherri,

My  name is Chakeitta and my daughter left on March 5,2012. She had her wisdom two of her wisdom teeth pulled while there. It can slow their process down because theyhe does not have to worr are limited to what they can do for a week. I suggest doing it before he leaves so that y bout that.

[sailorwifenmom]

If you can get them pulled before you / your future Sailor goes, then that would be best.  The Navy has changed their policy on this, and now, if you go to Boot Camp with your wisdom teeth, they get pulled.  They pulled our son's when he was there last fall, and my husband (who is also still on Active Duty in the Navy) explained the policy to me.

We wanted to get our son's done before he left, because of this, but we're currently stationed overseas with limited dental (they can do it if needed, but they don't want to do it for dependents as preventative if they don't need to).  But, when they found out that he wanted it done so he could go to boot camp, they said no, because "they would just do it there for him, so they didn't need to..."  In my opinion, it's better to have it done ahead of time if  you can, but if you can't, and it's done there, they will take good care of them and do lots of checkups (he said he saw the dentist like 3 times that week...)

He said that for a long time, the Navy only pulled them if it looked like there was going to be a problem or if they were getting ready to deploy on a ship or to a location that wouldn't be able to handle dealing with pulling them if a problem developed.  But, he said that it ended up that there were so many people that were then getting scheduled to get them pulled right before a deployment (when there's so many other things going on to get ready and it's a real pain in the rear for everyone), or having unexpected problems come up while they were deployed, which was a whole new can of worms...

So, now the new policy is, you come in with your wisdom teeth, they yank them... 

[lemonelephant]

I respectfully disagree with you in your statement of "So, now the new policy is, you come in with your wisdom teeth, they yank them..." In recent months, I have seen moms who have mentioned that their sons or daughters needed 1, 2, 3, or all 4 of their wisdom teeth removed and also a few who mentioned that the wisdom teeth were not removed; granted some of those did later have 1 or more removed at A School, but not all of them did. That indicates that not everyone will have all of their wisdom teeth removed at BC.

If you can find a written policy, then I would love to see it, but the experiences of the Recruits as relayed by their moms appear to show that it is based on the individual circumstances of each Recruit and what the dentist that checks the Recruit decides.

[SherBear Nuke Mom (ET)]

well put lemon............after reading all of the opinions and experiences on this wonderful website, we are leaning towards having it done before he leaves. Since we have plenty of time before he leaves in Sept and our Dentist does highly recommend the oral surgeon we are going to for a consult next month. The bottom line for me is the recuperating at home, whereas for my son it is the time away from what everyone else is doing. It would kill him to have a complication of some sort that would make him stay SIQ longer. He is very driven and doesn't want any kind of a break from the routine. 

 

Sherri B