Wisdom Teeth Removal in Gilroy, CA
 South Valley Oral and Facial Surgery has been performing wisdom teeth removal in Gilroy, CA since our founding surgeon opened the practice here in 1997.
Our two board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeons handle straightforward extractions and complicated impactions every week, and we see patients from across the South Valley including Morgan Hill, San Martin, Hollister, and Miller. If a general dentist has told you your third molars need to come out, or you have started feeling pressure or swelling at the back of your jaw, you are exactly who we see most days.
Wisdom teeth are the last set of molars to come in, usually between ages 17 and 25. For some people they erupt without trouble. For most, they crowd, lean, or get stuck under the gum, and that is when patients call our office. Whether you need one tooth out or all four, we manage tooth extraction from consultation through recovery at the Gilroy location.
A wisdom tooth that is fully impacted or sitting at an awkward angle is rarely something a general dentist will attempt. That is where an oral surgeon comes in. Between our two board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeons, complex impactions are routine work, not unusual cases sent down the road to another specialist. One has more than a decade of Navy oral surgery experience. The other holds dual board certification in oral surgery and anesthesiology, which matters specifically for the sedation side of wisdom teeth cases.
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Understanding Wisdom Tooth Extraction
 Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are the last four adult teeth to come in, and human jaws are often too small to fit them. When there is not enough room, the teeth come in at an angle, only partly erupt, or stay trapped under the gum and bone. Any of these can lead to pain, infection, cavities in the second molars, cyst formation, or crowding of teeth that have already been straightened.
Not everyone needs all four wisdom teeth removed. We base the recommendation on what your panoramic X-ray or 3D CBCT imaging actually shows about each tooth's position, its relationship to the nerve in your lower jaw, and how it sits relative to the second molar. If one of your wisdom teeth has erupted fully and is functional, we may leave it alone.
Why Wisdom Teeth Often Need to Come Out
Most issues come from impaction, which means the tooth cannot fully emerge through the gum. An impacted tooth often pushes against the adjacent molar, traps food and bacteria in pockets that are nearly impossible to clean, and can lead to inflammation in the gum tissue around it. Over time this can damage the root of the second molar or develop into a cyst that thins the surrounding bone.
Signs It Is Time for an Evaluation
You do not need to wait for a major problem. Some of the patients we see have no pain at all and were referred by a general dentist after a routine X-ray. Others come in because of a specific symptom:
- Pressure or aching – at the very back of your upper or lower jaw, especially when chewing
- Swelling or redness – in the gum tissue behind your last molar
- A bad taste or smell – that does not go away with brushing, often a sign of trapped debris
- Stiff jaw or limited opening – sometimes caused by inflammation around an erupting tooth
- Recent orthodontic relapse – teeth that were straightened starting to shift again
If any of these sound familiar, an evaluation lets us look at the imaging with you and decide whether removal, monitoring, or no treatment at all makes sense for your situation.
Your Oral Surgery Team in Gilroy
Dr. Joseph McMurray (DMD, MBA, FACOMS) has been removing wisdom teeth at the Gilroy office since he founded the practice in 1997. Before that, he served 11 years with the U.S. Navy, including a tour as fleet oral surgeon aboard the USS Nimitz and as clinical department head at U.S. Naval Hospital in Naples, Italy. His full bio covers the credentialing and training in detail. Three and a half decades of wisdom teeth cases means he has seen most of what an impacted third molar can do, and that experience matters most on the cases that are not textbook.
Dr. Arian Chehrehsa (DDS, ABOMS) has a credential that is rare among oral surgeons: dual board certification in both oral and maxillofacial surgery and anesthesiology. The same surgeon planning your extraction is also fully trained on the anesthesia side of the procedure. He was born and raised in San Jose, attended Leland High School and Santa Clara University, completed dental school at NYU, and finished his residency at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. More on his clinical training.
Both surgeons see patients at the Gilroy office. For most patients having all four wisdom teeth removed, one appointment with one surgeon covers everything.
What to Expect During Wisdom Teeth Removal
Most wisdom teeth cases involve three visits: a consultation, the day of surgery, and a follow-up.
Consultation and 3D Imaging
At your first visit, we review your medical history, take a panoramic X-ray, and often a CBCT (3D scan) if the lower wisdom teeth are close to the inferior alveolar nerve. We walk through the imaging with you, explain what each tooth is doing, and recommend which to remove. You also choose your sedation level at this visit. Options range from local anesthesia only to IV sedation; wisdom teeth removal under IV sedation is the most common choice for all-four cases.
Day of Surgery
You arrive with someone who can drive you home if you have chosen IV sedation or general anesthesia. Our team walks you back to the surgical suite, places monitors, and gets you comfortable. For impacted teeth we open the gum tissue, remove a small amount of bone if needed, and section the tooth into pieces so it comes out cleanly without stressing the surrounding bone. The whole procedure for four impacted teeth typically takes 45 to 75 minutes once you are sedated.
Closure and Same-Day Recovery
We close the extraction sites with dissolvable stitches and place gauze for you to bite on. Before you leave, we go over written post-op instructions, give you any prescriptions you need, and answer questions with a family member in the room. Most patients are home within an hour of the procedure ending.
Follow-Up and Healing
A nurse from our office typically calls within 24 to 48 hours to check on you. We schedule a brief in-person follow-up about a week to ten days after surgery to inspect the healing. Our post-op care instructions walk through diet, swelling timeline, and warning signs in detail for reference at home.
Benefits of Removing Problematic Wisdom Teeth
The clearest benefit is that the pain, pressure, or infection that brought you in goes away once the tooth is out. Several longer-term gains are easy to overlook when you are focused on the immediate problem.
Protects the second molar. An angled or impacted wisdom tooth can erode the enamel and root of the molar in front of it. When we plan a removal at our Gilroy office, the CBCT scan lets us position the cut so the second molar root is not stressed as the wisdom tooth comes out.
Reduces risk of gum disease. Chronic inflammation in the pocket behind an erupting wisdom tooth (pericoronitis) can spread to surrounding tissue and bone if untreated. Patients with active inflammation are typically seen at our Gilroy office within a week of calling, before the inflammation has a chance to spread further.
Preserves orthodontic results. If you spent years in braces or aligners and you have wisdom teeth pressing on the back of your arch, taking them out removes one source of pressure that could shift those results. For patients still finishing orthodontic treatment, we coordinate timing with the orthodontist so the extraction happens when it makes most sense for the overall plan.
Eliminates cyst and tumor risk. A small percentage of impacted wisdom teeth develop into dentigerous cysts or other lesions over years or decades. The 3D imaging we take at the consultation lets us see early cyst formation before symptoms appear, and removal addresses both the tooth and any associated lesion in one procedure.
Faster recovery when you are younger. Wisdom teeth roots are still forming through the late teens and early twenties, and the bone around them is less dense. A younger patient typically recovers faster than someone who waits until their 30s or 40s. Many South Valley families schedule the removal around summer or winter school break to give their teen a few quiet days to rest.
Why Patients Across the South Valley Choose Our Gilroy Office
 Our founding surgeon opened this office in 1997 and has been practicing in Gilroy ever since. For families in the South Valley, that consistency matters. Many South Valley families have now sent multiple generations through this office for wisdom teeth and other oral surgery, and that history is not something a newer office can manufacture.
We are a two-surgeon oral and maxillofacial surgery practice, which means both anesthesia and the surgery itself happen with the same team you met at the consultation. For wisdom teeth specifically, this matters in two ways. Our anesthesiology board-certified surgeon adds a layer of training to IV sedation that most general dental offices do not have. And because we are not a hospital clinic, we can usually get you in for an evaluation within a week or two and complete the surgery soon after.
Our patients come from Morgan Hill, San Martin, Hollister, Miller, and Sargent. Some drive a few minutes; others drive across the South Valley. Most wisdom teeth turn out to be impacted, and for impacted teeth, an oral surgeon is the right call.
Wisdom Teeth Removal Cost and Financing
Cost is a fair question, and we want to be straight about how it works. The cost of wisdom teeth removal depends on a few specific things: how many teeth need to come out, whether each tooth is fully erupted, partially erupted (soft tissue impacted), or impacted in bone, and which sedation level you choose. A fully erupted upper wisdom tooth removed under local anesthesia is at the lower end of the range. Four bony impactions removed under IV sedation are at the higher end. We give you the actual fee in writing at your consultation, after we have looked at your imaging.
Most dental insurance plans cover at least a portion of wisdom teeth removal, particularly when the teeth are impacted or causing symptoms. We verify your benefits before the procedure and tell you what you can expect to pay out of pocket. More on our insurance and financing options, including which plans we accept and how to spread out the cost. If you are paying without insurance, we offer financing through third-party lenders and can talk through those options at your consultation. More on what affects the cost of wisdom teeth removal if you want a deeper read before your visit.
Schedule Your Wisdom Teeth Consultation in Gilroy
The first step is a consultation with one of our surgeons. We review your imaging, explain what we see, and lay out the options. Most patients schedule the surgery within a week or two of the consultation.
Call our Gilroy office at 408-479-8788 to set up an evaluation. You can also request an appointment online. We're at 7880 Wren Avenue, Suite E152 in Gilroy, CA. More on our Gilroy office, including hours, directions, and the surrounding areas we serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the wisdom teeth removal procedure hurt?
During the procedure itself, the local anesthesia keeps the area fully numb. Most patients also choose IV sedation or general anesthesia, which means you are asleep through the surgery and remember nothing of it. Afterward, expect soreness and swelling for two to four days, which prescription or over-the-counter pain medication manages well in most cases. We adjust the pain management plan if it is not improving on schedule.
How long does recovery from wisdom teeth removal take?
Most patients return to school or non-physical work within three to five days. Swelling typically peaks at 48 to 72 hours and resolves within a week. Full bone healing in the extraction sites takes several months, but you will not notice that healing in your daily life. Strenuous exercise and contact sports should wait at least a week.
Do all four wisdom teeth need to be removed at the same time?
Not always. If two or three are problematic and the others are functional, we recommend removing only the ones causing trouble. When all four do need to come out, doing them in one appointment under sedation is typically easier than splitting into two surgeries: only one recovery period and one round of anesthesia.
What sedation options are available for wisdom teeth removal?
We offer local anesthesia, nitrous oxide, IV sedation, and general anesthesia. Most patients having all four wisdom teeth out choose IV sedation, where you are asleep but breathing on your own and remember nothing of the procedure. Patients who only need one upper tooth out often choose local anesthesia and are back at work the same day. More on general anesthesia and sedation.
What is dry socket and how can I avoid it?
Dry socket happens when the blood clot in an extraction site dislodges or dissolves before healing is established, exposing bone and nerve to air. It usually appears three to five days after surgery as a sharp throbbing pain. Avoid drinking through straws, spitting forcefully, and smoking for the first 72 hours. If it does happen, our dry socket treatment addresses it quickly with a medicated dressing.
Does dental insurance cover wisdom teeth removal?
Dental and medical insurance often help cover wisdom teeth removal in different ways. Most dental plans cover impacted or symptomatic extractions as a covered benefit. Medical insurance sometimes covers bony impactions as a surgical procedure when dental coverage limits are exhausted. We check both before your procedure and give you a written estimate of your out-of-pocket cost at the consultation.
How soon should I schedule wisdom teeth removal?
If you are in active pain or have visible infection, this is emergency oral surgery and we can usually see you within a few days. For routine evaluations referred by a general dentist, scheduling within a few weeks is typical. Late teens through early twenties is the most common removal age because roots are still forming and recovery is faster than later in life.
Why see an oral surgeon instead of my regular dentist for wisdom teeth?
General dentists handle fully erupted, straightforward wisdom teeth. For impacted teeth, teeth angled toward the inferior alveolar nerve, or cases needing IV sedation or general anesthesia, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon has the additional surgical residency training to manage the case safely. Both surgeons at our Gilroy office are board-certified in oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Can I drive myself home after wisdom teeth removal?
Only if you had local anesthesia only. Any patient who receives IV sedation or general anesthesia must have someone drive them home and stay with them for the rest of the day. We will not start sedation without confirming you have a ride lined up. |
