For many people, the best treatment for wisdom teeth is to remove them. This treatment helps prevent future dental problems and maintains a healthy mouth and smile.
Your last molars, called the third molars or wisdom teeth, typically begin to come in during the late teens or early 20s. When they don’t have room to grow in properly, they are considered impacted. Even though they erupt fully to the neighboring tooth level, most of wisdom teeth are partially covered by the gum or bone. The reason is due to anatomy of the lower jawbone. Wisdom teeth are located at the last area of the jawbone, which has mostly ascending slope of the bone. This impaction can cause serious problems such as:
• A very painful infection, called pericoronitis, can affect a partially erupted wisdom tooth and the surrounding gums. This infection can spread into the face and jaw.
• When a wisdom tooth tries to erupt at an angle, it can cause decay in the neighboring tooth. This happens because wisdom teeth are nearly impossibleto keep free of plaque, and the area between the two teeth becomes a trap for the bacteria in plaque that cause tooth decay.
• Another kind of bacteria in plaque cause periodontal (gum) disease, which may start near the wisdom teeth and spread throughout the mouth.
• A fluid-filled sac called a cyst may develop around an impacted tooth. A cyst can destroy a great deal of bone in the jaw before it’s noticed.
I found some problems of the wisdom teeth, which erupted fully as normal teeth. They hit first when the jaw working for chew and cause trauma from occlusion. Most of the people cannot clean wisdom teeth and cause periodontal disease in molar teeth.
To determine if extracting wisdom teeth is right for your situation, we will do a thorough examination, which includes x-rays.
It is often better to remove wisdom teeth early, while their roots are still small, even before the teeth have come in through the gums. This allows for easier removal, fewer complications, and faster healing.
If you have any question, you can reach Dr. Jangsook Kim at 661-253-3030.