Wisdom Teeth Extraction
What are wisdom teeth extractions?
Wisdom teeth, also known as third molars, emerge during early adulthood. A panoramic dental radiograph (x-ray) will confirm the number of wisdom teeth in a person’s mouth and indicate whether any of these teeth are buried or unerupted. It also allows full radiographic examination of the upper and lower jaw architecture and all the teeth present.
An impacted tooth is a tooth that fully or partially buried under the gum line and is unable to erupt properly. Wisdom teeth are the most common type of impacted teeth requiring removal because they are growing at the wrong place and/or at a wrong angle. Seldom do they come out straight. The obstruction is caused either by the tooth in front of it or by the surrounding bone and gums.
Impacted wisdom teeth are frequently food traps and breeding grounds for bacteria. Thus, maintaining their cleanliness is difficult and infection is very common. Research lately has shown that overall dental condition improves after removal of wisdom teeth. Healing, after removal of infected wisdom teeth, is complicated. It is therefore common to remove wisdom teeth before they are symptomatic.
Expand All | Collapse AllHow long will the procedure take?
It takes approximately 15 to 45 minutes. Most of it is preparation time.
When will I be able to resume daily activities? Will I be in pain?
Most of our patients report they can get back to normal daily activities within a few hours. A reasonable dinner is commonly expected. We usually hear back from our patients that they were surprised by how little discomfort they experienced after the surgery. You may want to take it easy though.
Are there any side effects/risks?
By nature, wisdom teeth in the lower jaw are close to the nerve in the middle of our lower jaw. Research shows that there is an approximately one to two percent chance that the nerve may be touched during the procedure. If that happens, the lip and/or tongue may feel numb while your appearance, speech and lip mobility remain the same.
A skin cut heals within a few days but nerve recovery take months. Given a long enough time, the vast majority of the numbness will go away. Only extremely rarely do we see permanent numbness. One thing for sure, your dentists always do their best to avoid such risk and our clinical record has been excellent in this aspect.