Why Should I Extract My Wisdom Teeth?
If your dentist recommends removing your wisdom teeth, chances are, they will either cause you pain or shift your other teeth around soon. Wisdom teeth are your third set of molars that grow in the very back of your top and bottom teeth. Wisdom teeth get their unique name because they typically start to grow between 17-25 years of age. These sets of molars generally are removed for a lot of reasons. In most cases, your dentist can see through x-rays that the way they are growing in could either cause you pain or shift around your other natural teeth.
What Are Some Reasons to Remove Wisdom Teeth?
- Growing in crooked: If your wisdom teeth are growing in crooked, they will start to push your already grown in teeth in different directions. If they push up against your teeth, they will cause some severe pain along with undoing any aesthetic work you may have performed in the past (i.e., braces). This is one of the more popular reasons as to why a patient should remove their wisdom teeth.
- Your jaw space is too small: If you have larger teeth and your jaw space isn’t big enough to house the incoming molars, your dentist will recommend you have them removed before they start growing in. If you allow these wisdom teeth to grow in, you will find this phase to be excruciatingly painful as they will push all other natural teeth further from that area and build on top of one another. Sometimes these molars won’t be able to drive all other teeth out of the way, and instead, stay underneath the gum line and cause soreness in that area until they are pulled out.
- They’re impacted: Sometimes wisdom teeth may not be able to grow in naturally at all. They may be coming in slightly crooked, and your jawbone or gums may be blocking it from entirely growing in. This will also cause some soreness in your jaw and can be painful until the extraction is finished.
- You have gum disease or cavities: If you’ve had no problems with your wisdom teeth growing in (meaning, they’ve grown in straight and have not caused any trouble), then this may sound like a great sign. However, wisdom teeth are notorious for getting cavities or some form of gum disease as they are the hardest teeth to brush or floss. When patients are brushing, they may feel as though they are cleaning all of their teeth; however, wisdom teeth are typically missed during brushing sessions. Which in turn, causes them to be infected. If this starts to happen, your dentist will recommend you have them taken out in order to stop this from happening.
Wisdom Tooth Extraction
There are two ways a wisdom tooth may be extracted, a simple extraction or a surgical one. A simple extraction is when the wisdom tooth has grown in and has broken through the gum line, this extraction is easy for the dentist as it is a matter of pulling it out with some simple dental tools. A surgical extraction is needed when a tooth is still below the gum line, and the dentist needs to cut into the gum line in order to reach the tooth to pull it out. A surgical extraction will likely need a higher dose of a local anesthetic or sedation to relieve the pain from the surgery.
Contact Renaissance Dental Care today to learn more about our tooth extraction process.
Interested in learning more about tooth extractions in general, like whether or not you need an emergency extraction? Learn More Here >