You’ve probably heard of wisdom teeth before, and you may even have been told by your dentist that you should have them removed. We understand that you may be apprehensive but don’t worry, it’s a standard dental procedure that the majority of people undergo to save hassles down the road. Truth is, most people would benefit from having their wisdom teeth removed, especially if they’re still under 30 years old. Wisdom teeth aren’t harmful in themselves but can cause complications if they do not come in correctly. The main issues with wisdom teeth arise when they come in crooked, impacting into the surrounding teeth or when they don’t fully erupt at all. Impacting your other teeth will cause them to go out of alignment, can cause bite deformation, jaw pain, tooth or jaw pain and even infection. If the wisdom teeth do not fully erupt, then they often cause food particles to become trapped and a risk of infection to occur. In order to safeguard against any of these complications, wisdom teeth are typically removed as they are not needed and usually cause more problems than they are worth. As wisdom teeth removal experts in St. Catharines, our Martindale Dental clinic is a great place to get advice, tips and a consultation about your wisdom teeth.
An overview of the process
If you’ve been told by your dentist or oral surgeon that you should have your wisdom teeth removed, don’t worry, it’s usually a straight forward procedure that can be completed in your dentist’s or oral surgeon’s office.
Before removing your wisdom teeth, a local anaesthetic will be applied to numb the area. Often a general anaesthetic such as nitrous oxide (laughing gas) may be used to sedate patients during the procedure. Also known as sedation dentistry or sleep dentistry, these methods will allow a patient to sleep during the procedure and prevent feelings of pain and anxiety. Many patients choose to be sedated for a wisdom tooth removal, especially if multiple wisdom teeth are being removed at the same time.
In order to remove a wisdom tooth, your dentist or oral surgeon will open the surrounding gum tissue covering your wisdom teeth in order to gain clean access to the tooth for removal. Sometimes this includes removing small amounts of jaw bone or breaking the wisdom tooth roots into smaller pieces for easy removal – don’t worry – it’s not as bad as it sounds. Once the tooth has been removed, the site is stitched up and a cotton gauze pad is placed on the wound to stop bleeding.
Why should wisdom teeth be removed?
Wisdom teeth are often extracted to correct a problem, or to prevent one from happening in the future. Wisdom teeth are not necessary for the function of your teeth and are thus removeable.
Some reasons that wisdom teeth are typically removed include:
• There isn’t enough space inside a person’s mouth, meaning wisdom teeth could impact or break the surrounding teeth and cause alignment issues.
• Wisdom teeth often only partially erupt which leaves a skin flap and spaces for bacteria to become trapped and infection to happen.
• Wisdom teeth that become infected can damage other teeth, your jaw bone and/or cause painful cysts.
Having your wisdom teeth removed is effective in preventing:
• Crowding of teeth
• Impacted teeth
• Gum infections
• Gum disease, tooth decay, jaw bone degradation and general oral pain
