Wisdom teeth or third molars tend to erupt into the mouth in the late teens or the early twenties. They are technically called ‘the third molars’ because they appear after the second molars have appeared in the mouth.
Wisdom teeth can be a valuable asset if they grow vertically and are aligned properly. However, these teeth have been known to grow diagonally and horizontally, thus causing problems for their owners. This uneven growing can cause a myriad of problems including crowding, damage to the adjacent second molars.
Very often there is a discrepancy in the size of the teeth and the size of the jaws leading to impactions.
Impactions can lead to a number of oral health complications including;
- Pain
- Infection
- Tooth Crowding
- Cyst Formation
- Ulcerations
- Food traps
- Caries (Decay)
In such cases we recommend extraction.
At Comfort Care Dentistry we can take diagnostic images via our digital radiographs (xrays) to assess what is going on underneath the gums and to help determine if the wisdom teeth need to be extracted and to determine what is the safest method to remove them.