College Students Win Free Wisdom Teeth Removal Surgery

Recently, several oral surgeons have been giving away the opportunity for students to win wisdom teeth surgery for free. Normally these procedures (if doing all four wisdom teeth) can cost several thousands of dollars or more. The complementary wisdom teeth procedure is designed to help offset the cost of college expensive for students.

In one case an oral surgeon in Texas, has a Wisdom for Wisdom program that offers students the opportunity to apply. The application requires entering in some basic information about the patient and dentist. It also asks the applicant to respond to the the question “What would the Wisdom For Wisdom program mean to you if you are selected?” In the fourth year of the Wisdom for Wisdom program at this Texas oral surgery practice, an 18 year old male was selected to be the winner out of 30 potential candidates. The man said

“I’m of course really grateful for the opportunity. It will be really helpful going into college sort of alleviating some of the financial burdens of health costs on top of education.”

The man was selected over the other candidates based on his powerful essay and his visit to the oral surgeon. He plans to study sociology at a university in Texas this fall.

In another case, a roughly 20 something year old woman won a free wisdom teeth surgery from an oral surgeon in North Carolina. Even though it is a different oral surgeon practice, the name of the program is also the Wisdom For Wisdom program. This was the first year of this program at this practice in North Carolina. She actually has yet to have had the wisdom teeth removed, and it is scheduled on her winter break in December later this year. The oral surgeon also was impressed by the woman’s character during her visit to the oral surgeon. She is currently a junior at a university in South Carolina studying emergency management.

It is good to see that oral surgeons understand the challenges young adults face when it comes to the cost of paying for wisdom teeth surgery. It is not clear how many such programs exist at other oral surgeons offices throughout the U.S. but it seems to be a positive program to help offset college students costs such as tuition, books, and housing. Not all young adults when they reach college age need to have wisdom teeth removal. There are reasons to have wisdom teeth extracted and there is some debate on extraction or following a wait and see approach if otherwise healthy and causing no problems. See for example https://www.teethremoval.com/controversy.html

Further, as a potential double whammy. You could possibly win free wisdom teeth removal surgery from an oral surgeon as the two students above did and also take a clever video after the surgery, submit it, and win potentially thousands of free dollars. See for example the posts Woman wins $10,000 for paying it backward after wisdom teeth surgery and Woman wins $10,000 for funny video after wisdom teeth surgery.

Sources:

1. Rachael Reagan, “Doing Good in the Neighborhood: Student Earns Free Wisdom Teeth Removal,” FOX34, KJTV, July 26, 2021.
2. Sarah Marino, “Belmont college student wins toothy prize,” Gaston Gazette, August 12, 2021.