Wisdom Teeth Extractions

Wisdom tooth extraction is a surgical procedure to remove one or more wisdom teeth — the four permanent adult teeth located at the back corners of your mouth on the top and bottom.

If a wisdom tooth doesn’t have room to grow (impacted wisdom tooth), resulting in pain, infection or other dental problems, you’ll likely need to have it pulled. Wisdom tooth extraction may be done by a dentist or an oral surgeon.

To prevent potential future problems, some dentists and oral surgeons recommend wisdom tooth extraction even if impacted teeth aren’t currently causing problems.

Why it’s done

Impacted wisdom teeth

There are 4 Wisdom teeth that develop at around 16 to 21 years of age and a significant proportion of the population does not have any problems with them. They erupt normally into position as long as there is enough room in the jaw.

However there is a significant number (some studies point to an increasing number of your adults) for whom there may be inadequate room in the jaw this may result in what is called wisdom tooth impaction. This essentially means that the wisdom tooth is stuck in bone and has no way of reaching a proper position in the mouth and perform its proper function –which is chewing. And the result may be a partially or completely impacted tooth.

Impacted teeth assume various types of angulations based on available space and developmental patterns. But management usually assumes a preventative basis where Dr. Joseph may recommend extraction of a developing wisdom tooth before it has a chance to become fully impacted.

For Instance, a fully developed wisdom tooth causing a problem in a 35 yr old patient is a lot more complicated to remove and causes more post-operative complications than a partially developed wisdom tooth in a 17 yr old.

Research has shown that a very significant percentage of the population experiences problems with wisdom teeth at some point in life.

For this reason, a preventative approach is considered useful, where the dentist may recommend extraction of wisdom teeth preventatively when the patient is around 16 to 20 based on x rays to assess the right amount of tooth development.

Problems with impacted wisdom teeth

Untreated Impacted wisdom teeth may cause significant issues such as Pain, Trapping food and debris behind the wisdom tooth, Infection or gum disease, Tooth decay in a partially erupted wisdom tooth, Damage to a nearby tooth or surrounding bone, Development of a fluid-filled sac (cyst) around the wisdom tooth, Complications with orthodontic treatments to straighten other teeth.

What you can expect around the removal of impacted Wisdom teeth.

During the procedure

  • Local anesthesia: After Dr. Joseph gives you the Local Anesthesia, the jaw will become very numb and you will experience movement, pressure and vibration and not any pain. With his vast experience the entire procedure should not last longer than 1 hour for all 4 wisdom teeth for Dr. Joseph.
  • Sedation anesthesia: Dr. Joseph will provide a prescription for a pill that can be taken about an hour prior to the procedure that will help with reduction of anxiety and mild sedation to make sure you sail through your surgery with ease.

After the procedure

If you receive sedation anesthesia, you will be dismissed only in the care of a responsible adult.

As you heal from your surgery, you may experience the following mild symptoms.

Pain/Swelling, Bleeding and Bruising. Numbness of Lip or tongue may in some cases persist for a few days to weeks. But this resolves in the vast majority of cases. Serious Infections sometimes are extremely rare.

Detailed post-operative instructions will be provided at the end of the procedure, both orally and as a typed sheet for your reference.

When to call your dentist

At any time is the short answer. Dr. Joseph believes in being available 24/7 to answer your questions and handle any complications that may arise. Patients seldom have any major issue after removal of wisdom teeth.

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