Everything You Wanted To Know About Wisdomteeth, But Were Too Afraid To Ask

There are many alarming myths about wisdometeeth, their extraction, and the problems caused by either of these two things. In truth, everyone has different wisdomteeth, and some lucky people never develop wisdom teeth at all. How is this possible? Read on and find out!

Evolutionary Issues

Wisdom teeth are molars, the third molars, to be precise. It grows at different times for difeerent people, but usually between the age sof 18-25. They would cause no problems if they would line up like the rest of our teeth. But they do not, and the wisdom teeth often become impacted and painful.

Why? Evolution. Our skulls, and thus our jawbones become smaller over time, but we have managed to retain the same number of teeth. Because of this, our third molars do not have ample space sometimes, and sometimes they cannot grow at all. The problems arise when the tooth does not grow in the same direction. Sometimes they try to grow horizontally, and sometimes they grow on to the teeth next to them. This can smoosh teeth against each other, which will eventually damage them, and they become harder to clean as well. A malocclusion of the wisdom teeth can lead to nerve damage and damage to your jaw as well.

Sometimes this pesky tooth only erupts partially. What does this mean? This means that part of the tooth becomes trapped in the soft tissue or the jaw itself. You can get swollen lymph nodes, lockjaw, and of course be in terrible pain because of this problem, and the pain can radiate to your temples, neck and head as well as your ear. The difficulty in cleaning this area of course can greately exasperate this problem.

What To Do With An Unwanted Wisdomtooth?

If you are not sure that your wisdom tooth has grown  out already, there are two things you can do: you can count your teeth to make sure (there should be 8 in each quadrant), or you can go to a dentist and have them make a dental x-ray.

Often times it is best to get the wisdom teeth removed before they cause any trouble, and young people heal faster anyway. If all of the tooth has grown out, rmeoving them will be easy, it will just be a normal extraction (most likely). If the tooth is only partially erupted, then oral surgery will most likely be necessary. This usually happen under local anaesthetic, and rarely are patients put under, and only if they explicitly desire t be asleep when the procedure happens. If the hole that is left after extraction is too big, the gap will be sewn together. The stitches need to be removed later on.

Side Effects

As with all extraction, a few unpleasant side effects can be expected after getting your widom teeth pulled. What do we mean by that? A few days after extraction, the bloodclot that protects the extraction site will fall off. This is usually painful, and the chanc eof infection is relatively high. It is therefor vital that you leave the extrcation site alone, do not poke it, not even with your tongue! There will be a dull, constant pain, posisbly bad breath, and the lymph nodes can swell up as well, sometimes even a raise in temperature. If the latter two occur, going back to your dentist is probably a good idea, who can perscribe some medication that will make you feel better. You can also alleviate some of the pain and swelling by using a camomille soaked rag on the area. It is importnat that you not use this (or anything else) to rinse, as that can cause problems. If your mouth, tongue, or inside of oyur mouth feels tingly, you are experiencing paraesthesia. If this happens, return to your dentist immediately!

Each wisdom tooth extraction is of course ocmpletely different, both in terms of symptoms and in terms of consequences. Discuss your options wiht your dentist.

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