Wisdom Teeth Removal

Wisdom teeth removal is a proactive step often recommended for individuals in their late teens or early 20s. This early intervention can prevent potential dental health issues later in life. In some cases, one or more wisdom teeth may need to be removed if they become impacted or trapped in the jawbone or gums, leading to pain, swelling, and infection.

What are Wisdom Teeth?

The average person has three sets of molars, with the third molars being the last set to come in at the back of the mouth. These teeth once played an important role in the human diet, allowing our ancestors to chew more coarse, rough food than we are accustomed to today. However, through human evolution and the advent of eating utensils and softer foods, wisdom teeth are now considered non-vital and functionally useless.

Why Should My Wisdom Teeth Be Removed?

When wisdom teeth do not develop correctly or lack the room to erupt and move into their proper position, they become “impacted.” Impacted wisdom teeth can be painful and cause many oral health problems. If they grow sideways or remain beneath the bone or gum line, they can cause surrounding teeth to become crowded, misaligned, or damaged.

Impacted wisdom teeth, if left untreated, can lead to serious oral health problems. Partially erupted wisdom teeth can cause bacterial infection, leading to pain, swelling, decay, and bad breath. In extreme cases, an impacted wisdom tooth can cause dangerous growths around it that can damage the jawbone and surrounding healthy teeth. For these reasons, it is crucial to remove impacted wisdom teeth as early as possible, often before they begin to erupt.

Even when wisdom teeth erupt and align properly, they are often removed. This is because non-problematic wisdom teeth, while not causing immediate issues, can lead to future problems. They are commonly removed in young adults to avoid potential issues and to create space for braces and other orthodontics to work effectively.

Symptoms of an Impacted Wisdom Tooth

If all of your other teeth have emerged and you are in your late teens or older, you may experience symptoms that indicate a wisdom tooth is trying to emerge or is impacted:

  • Toothache or jaw pain
  • Red or swollen gums
  • Tender or bleeding gums
  • Swelling of the cheeks on one or both sides of the face
  • Chronic, severe bad breath
  • An odd, sometimes metallic, taste in the mouth
  • Difficulty opening and closing the mouth
  • Difficulty chewing foods
  • A low-grade fever with jaw pain or toothache

If any of the above symptoms last more than a few days, you should contact your dentist as soon as possible for an evaluation and a referral to Sandhills Oral Surgery if wisdom tooth removal is recommended.

Wisdom Teeth Removal

We recognize that the removal of wisdom teeth may cause anxiety. Depending on the location, number, and complexity of the wisdom teeth to be extracted, most procedures take less than an hour. You can be confident that we will do everything in our power to alleviate dental fear and ensure your comfort before and after the extraction process.

For wisdom teeth removal, the majority of patients choose IV anesthesia. The patient enters a mild “twilight sleep” as a result. They might experience brief periods of unconsciousness but neither fear nor discomfort. They won’t remember the operation when they recover. In our office, our doctors have extracted hundreds of wisdom teeth successfully with no complications and quick recoveries.