For some people, wisdom teeth can cause recurrent problems with regular infections at monthly intervals. Wisdom teeth pain can be caused as they push through the gum into the mouth, but more commonly due to food and bacteria getting under the gum which covers the wisdom tooth. This is called pericoronitis.
Wisdom tooth pain can be caused by dental decay to the tooth itself or decay which has occurred in the adjacent tooth because the position of the wisdom tooth has made the surface adjacent to it impossible to clean.
Should a wisdom tooth be removed?
The thinking on how to manage wisdom teeth differs from country to country. In Australia and South Africa, they commonly remove wisdom teeth preemptively. My feeling is that the management of wisdom teeth in this country is about right. Removing a wisdom tooth is a minor surgical procedure and as such there are risks involved.
You should only have a wisdom tooth removed if there is good reason. This can range from recurrent infections and decay in the wisdom tooth or in the adjacent tooth, to severe bone loss around the wisdom tooth or around the adjacent tooth.
We often have patients coming to us concerned that the presence of their wisdom teeth is causing their teeth to crowd up at the front. There is actually no evidence to suggest that this actually occurs. Teeth tend to crowd up and overlap as you get older anyway, so crowding is not considered a good enough reason to remove wisdom teeth.
Removal of wisdom teeth can be incredibly straightforward, depending on the situation. For difficult wisdom teeth we have a specialist oral surgeon working at the practice who can deal with removal quickly and effectively.
We can carry out the tooth removal using intravenous sedation should you wish. This will help you relax and will make the extraction more comfortable.
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