How to Be Wise About Your Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth are often problematic as they attempt to emerge from the gums to take their place as the third and final set of molars in the upper and lower jaws. Of course, while they do cause problems for most people, they do emerge normally in others, coming in straight, strong and in optimal position. Wise management of wisdom teeth as they develop can provide early indications of which way things will go in your case, providing you with the opportunity to address problems in their early stages, before they become larger, more painful and damaging issues.

About Wisdom Teeth And Their Potential To Cause Problems

While wisdom teeth do develop normally in some cases, they are problematic more often than not. The primary reason they are so prone to problems is that most people do not have enough room in the jaw to accommodate them. Among the factors that contribute to this problem is the fact that our jaws are smaller than those of our ancestors. Additionally, since wisdom teeth typically emerge between the ages of 17 and 25, those ancestors were quite likely to have lost a few teeth by the time they began to come in, providing more room. Most of us keep our teeth today, creating a more challenging environment for wisdom teeth development.

Inadequate space for development can result in abnormal alignment, with wisdom teeth emerging from the gums at strange angles to irritate the cheeks or tongue or damage adjacent teeth. Impaction is also common, with wisdom teeth failing to emerge, remaining totally submerged in the gum, or partially impacted, with part of the tooth breaking through and the rest remaining covered by a flap of gum tissue. Left untreated, impacted wisdom teeth can cause serious complications, including cysts or tumors, damage to bone tissue in the jaw, mouth infections and gum disease.

Even wisdom teeth that develop well can eventually become problematic. The problem is that their location at the very back of the mouth tends to make them difficult to keep clean, increasing risk of tooth decay, infection and periodontal disease.

Wisdom Teeth Wisdom

Being wise about your wisdom teeth means keeping close tabs on them. If you are approaching the age at which these teeth begin to develop and emerge, seeing your dentist regularly is essential to catching any potential problems in their early stages. By monitoring the development of wisdom teeth, via dental imaging and examinations, dentists can often foresee problems before the teeth start to emerge, giving you the opportunity to nip those problems in the bud with early wisdom teeth removal.

Wisdom teeth that have already emerged should be monitored closely as well. Things to watch for in wisdom teeth that are properly positioned include signs of decay and inflammation, tenderness or bleeding in surrounding gum tissue. Impacted wisdom teeth are generally removed. However, if yours have not, as of yet, caused obvious problems and you have opted to leave them be, you and your dentist should monitor the situation closely for signs of complications that could make extraction of those teeth necessary.

If you would like more detailed information on managing your wisdom teeth wisely or are in need of a professional assessment of developing or existing third molars in the Salt Lake City area, The Wisdom Teeth Guys can help. Since the focus of our skilled and experienced dentists is solely on wisdom teeth, you will get the exceptional care you need to ensure that your wisdom teeth are handled appropriately, reducing your risk of experiencing painful problems and damaging complications.