AM
Ava Mrakovich
Sep 6, 2026
28 yo, 4 wisdom teeth extraction via sedation, no insurance, dental anxiety, autistic
Flashback to April 2026. I was living off advil and Tylenol due to some pretty severe decay in one of my wisdom teeth and was referred here by my family dentist. First they schedule you a $125 consultation to decide on your treatment plan. Dr. Hallinan was my surgeon that I met at the consultation and he was cool and made me feel comfortable. Maybe bc he’s around my age so I felt like we vibed. I expressed my dental anxiety and we both agreed quickly on sedation and removal of all 4 so I don’t go through again in the future, and he said the surgery will take 30-45 min tops. I left the appointment feeling like I was in good hands.
Next I was led to the patient check-out desk for a print-out of the total fee estimate, and I will say I was not fond of the woman working. She made me feel icky like one of those overly fake nice secretary’s that obviously hate you for existing. Anyway $2780 for the procedure and they don’t take payment plans. 😵💫 I asked her how long I have to schedule the appointment before I would need another consultation and she said one year so I was like ok, I’ll call you to schedule when I get the bread.
Flash forward to August 2026. I finally secured the funds for the surgery and called to schedule and they were able to get me in within a few days which I really appreciated. With sedation procedures they require that whoever drives you stays in the waiting room during the procedure, which in my case was my dad. They also ask that you show up 15 min prior to the scheduled appointment time. My appointment was for 8:15AM. Their waiting room is actually pretty unique it’s like dark upscale minimalist with an old farmhouse theme (matches the conestoga thing). Right on time I was led back to one of the surgery rooms.
I’m not sure the name of the nurse that took my blood pressure and set up the IV but she was really sweet and I made small talk about motherhood and it went well. Within a few minutes Dr. Hallinan came in and greeted me and I felt him hook up the anesthesia line to my IV and I asked him “am I about to be asleep?” and he said I had a few minutes still, but I was for sure out in a matter of seconds. When I woke up from the anesthesia, I felt extremely groggy which I think is normal, but also could be because I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before because I was having anxiety about the surgery. The nurse I mentioned before was in the room with me, and I remember being really upset that the Dr. lied to me and told me I had a few minutes when it was actually a matter of seconds. I was physically and emotionally overwhelmed, albeit the perk or whatever they had me on was doing its job. And here is why I’m rating 4 stars:
The moment I woke up from the surgery, the nurse began preparing me for discharge. I mean it was like they had another patient that needed the room within the next minute. Within 30 seconds my dad was in the room and the nurse was reading off some of the after-care pamphlet to him and helping me off the chair and to my feet. Was it efficient? Probably. But as an autistic person that needed more accommodations and better explanations, it was too fast of a discharge and I felt uneasy and overwhelmed. And maybe I should have let them know that I may have needed more accommodations and maybe I wouldn’t have felt like I was on some sort of surgery production line, who knows. Maybe that’s just how it is when getting a procedure done in 2026 and I just wasn’t privy.
My recovery was pretty astounding. It took me about 5 hours to regain control of the muscles that control my mouth from the local numbing, and that’s when I began the recommended 3 hours advil, 3 hours Tylenol cycle for the next 48 hours. I stopped those at the 48 hour mark and haven’t needed a single pain killer since. I am insanely grateful because if you’ve ever been in any kind of tooth pain, you know how nothing compares. Hope this helps someone decide where they want to get dental work done. :)