Dental Health Topics

Wisdom Teeth are the third and final set of molars that most people get in their late teens and early twenties. When these teeth are aligned correctly and healthy, they can be a part of a healthy mouth. However, most wisdom teeth are misaligned and need to be removed.

Your dentist may recommend removal of your wisdom teeth if there are signs of pain, infections, damage to adjacent teeth, gum disease, tooth decay or cysts. Your dentist may also recommend removing your wisdom teeth without any of these systems in order to avoid a more difficult procedure later on.

A typical surgery to remove wisdom teeth requires sedation and may lead to facial swelling and bleeding for a few days afterwards. There are two potential complications that can happen after surgery: dry socket and paresthesia.

• A dry socket is a complication from surgery that occurs when a blood clot either fails to form or is dislodged. This will delay healing time, but can be treated by your dentist placing medication in the socket.
• Paresthesia occurs less frequently than a dry socket, but is a numbness of the tongue, lip, or chin that happens if nerves are bruised or damaged during the tooth removal service.

Regular dental checkups allow your dentist to keep an eye on your wisdom and make recommendations about what would be the best course of action to keep your mouth healthy.