Wisdom Teeth Removal Cost UK: What You'll Pay to Get Them Out in 2026

Wisdom teeth removal costs most people somewhere between £200 and £600 per tooth privately in the UK. The spread depends almost entirely on one thing: how awkward your particular teeth are being.

A wisdom tooth that's come through properly and just needs pulling? That's the cheaper end. Quick procedure, local anaesthetic, you're out in half an hour. Probably £200-£350.

A wisdom tooth that's buried sideways under the gum, pushing against the tooth next to it, requiring actual surgery to get it out? That's the expensive end. Incisions, possibly bone removal, stitches, the whole production. £450-£600, sometimes more.

Most people fall somewhere in between. Their wisdom teeth are causing trouble - pain, infection, pushing other teeth around - but they're not the absolute worst-case scenario either. For that middle ground, you're looking at £350-£550 per tooth.

At UrgentCare Dental, wisdom teeth removal is £549 per tooth. That covers the procedure, the anaesthetic, and everything you need to get that problematic tooth out of your life.

Why Some Cost More Than Others

It comes down to what the dentist actually has to do to get the tooth out.

Upper wisdom teeth are usually simpler. They tend to have straighter roots and sit in softer bone. A lot of upper wisdom tooth extractions are relatively quick - the tooth gets loosened, it comes out, done.

Lower wisdom teeth are where things get interesting. The bone in your lower jaw is denser. The roots are often curved or hooked. And lower wisdom teeth are the ones most likely to be impacted - stuck at an angle, partially buried, causing all the problems.

An impacted tooth isn't just sitting there waiting to be pulled. It's wedged in, often sideways, sometimes pressing against your other molars. Getting it out means cutting through gum tissue, possibly removing some bone to create access, sometimes sectioning the tooth into pieces to extract it bit by bit. That's surgery, not just an extraction, and it costs accordingly.

The Four Wisdom Teeth Question

You've got four wisdom teeth - one in each corner of your mouth. Not all of them necessarily need removing, and the ones that do might not all be equally difficult.

Some people have one problematic wisdom tooth and three that are fine. Others have all four causing trouble. Your dentist can tell you exactly what's happening with each one after looking at an X-ray.

If you're having multiple wisdom teeth out at once, there's often a practical advantage to doing it in one go. One recovery period instead of several. One round of time off work. Some practices offer a discount for multiple extractions in the same appointment, though you'd need to ask.

The flip side is that recovering from four extractions at once is more intense than recovering from one. Some people prefer to spread it out. There's no wrong answer - it depends on your situation and what you can handle.

What Recovery Actually Looks Like

The first day or two are the worst. Swelling, tenderness, that dull ache that reminds you something significant just happened in your mouth. Painkillers help. Ice packs help. Sleeping propped up helps.

By day three or four, things are usually improving noticeably. The swelling goes down. The pain becomes more of a background awareness than an active problem. You start eating slightly more adventurous things than soup and yoghurt.

Full healing takes a couple of weeks, but you're functional long before that. Most people take one to three days off work depending on how their job involves talking or being seen by other humans.

The one thing you absolutely have to do is follow the aftercare instructions. Don't smoke. Don't drink through straws. Don't poke at the extraction site with your tongue even though you desperately want to. Dry socket - where the blood clot dislodges and exposes the bone - is genuinely unpleasant and entirely preventable if you just leave things alone.

Do They Actually Need Removing?

Here's the thing - not all wisdom teeth cause problems. Plenty of people have wisdom teeth that came through normally, sit there quietly, and never cause a moment's trouble. Those teeth don't need removing just because they're wisdom teeth.

The ones that need removing are the ones causing issues. Pain. Repeated infections. Damage to neighbouring teeth. Decay that can't be treated because of the tooth's position. Cysts forming around impacted teeth.

If your wisdom teeth aren't bothering you and your dentist isn't concerned about them, they can stay where they are. "Preventive" removal of problem-free wisdom teeth used to be more common, but the thinking has shifted. If it's not broken, don't extract it.

That said, if your wisdom teeth are causing problems, those problems tend to get worse rather than better. An infection that clears up with antibiotics will usually come back. An impacted tooth that's starting to push against its neighbour will keep pushing. The question isn't whether to deal with it, but when.

Sedation Options

Some people are fine with local anaesthetic. The area goes numb, you feel some pressure and movement, but no pain. You're awake for the whole thing.

Other people would rather not be that conscious for the experience, and that's completely valid. IV sedation puts you in a deeply relaxed, semi-conscious state where you're technically awake but unlikely to remember much afterwards. You'll need someone to take you home, and you won't be operating heavy machinery for the rest of the day, but it makes the whole thing much more manageable for anxious patients.

General anaesthetic - being completely unconscious - is usually reserved for particularly complex cases or hospital settings. It's not typical for standard wisdom tooth removal, but it exists as an option when it's genuinely needed.

Sedation adds to the cost, but for some people it's the difference between being able to go through with the procedure and not being able to face it at all. Worth every penny in that case.

Getting It Sorted

Consultations at UrgentCare Dental are £20. You'll get an X-ray, find out exactly what's going on with your wisdom teeth, and know precisely what it'll cost to deal with them.

If you've been putting off dealing with problematic wisdom teeth because you weren't sure what you were in for - now you know. It's a few hundred pounds, a couple of days of discomfort, and then you never have to think about them again. Most people wish they'd done it sooner.