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Many of us keep our fingers crossed and hope we won’t need to get our wisdom teeth removed. For a lucky few, it may be possible to keep them, but not if they’re impacted. Here at Dental Specialty Associates of Arizona, we’re proud to provide comprehensive care in one convenient place, including comfortable and affordable wisdom teeth removal in Phoenix and Gilbert.
What is an impacted wisdom tooth and how can you tell if you have one? What happens if you choose not to get an impacted tooth removed? Let’s find out!
What Is an Impacted Wisdom Tooth?
Tooth impaction happens any time a tooth cannot fully emerge from the bone or gums and can’t grow in like it should. While wisdom teeth are the most likely to become impacted, this can happen with any tooth that doesn’t have enough room or isn’t positioned correctly. Canine teeth are also common culprits.
There are several different ways a wisdom tooth can become impacted. In many cases, this happens because the jawbone does not have enough space for another tooth to emerge behind the last molars. It can also happen if the wisdom tooth grows in at an incorrect angle, such as sideways or even upside down. In some cases, impaction can occur because the wisdom tooth is deformed or misshapen.
Unfortunately, when a tooth gets stuck, it doesn’t just sit quietly. The processes that would normally push the tooth through the gums continue to create pressure, which can lead to serious issues if not addressed. Here are a few symptoms of an impacted wisdom tooth.
1. Pain or Gum Tenderness in the Back of the Jaw
Pressure from an impacted wisdom tooth can irritate the nerves in the back of your jaw and cause a persistent throbbing, aching, or intense pain. You may also experience tenderness in the gums if the wisdom tooth pushes through the bone but can’t break all the way through the gums. In this case, the gums can become enlarged and even get in the way when you’re eating, chewing, or speaking.
“At home, patients can take over-the-counter pain medication until they’re able to see us. But never try to just let it go.” –Dr. Lilien
2. Swelling in the Gums or Jawline
Other than an impacted wisdom tooth pushing the gums out of their normal position, you may notice swelling in the gums, jawline, or sides of your face. When this happens, the tissue may appear red and tender, and you may even notice swollen lymph nodes in the area. This can happen because of bacteria causing infections around a partially erupted wisdom tooth, or because the tooth itself is causing a cyst in the jawbone.
3. Difficulty Opening, Closing, or Moving the Jaw
Impacted wisdom teeth can restrict the normal movement of your jaw and make it hard to fully open, close, or move the jaw side to side. This can happen because the wisdom teeth cause inflammation of the tissue in and around the temporomandibular joints (TMJs), causing stiffness, soreness, or even physically limiting how far you can open.
4. Persistent Bad Breath or Foul Taste in the Back of the Mouth
If your wisdom teeth have partially erupted, meaning they aren’t coming in all the way but there is a small opening where they are exposed to the oral environment, they will trap bacteria and food debris. Because they’re not accessible for brushing and flossing, it’s not possible to clean them properly, making them likely to become infected. When that happens, you may notice bad breath that doesn’t go away after brushing, or a bad taste in your mouth.
5. Headaches or Earaches
The nerves in the head and face are very tightly packed, especially toward the back of your mouth. As we already saw, swelling from impacted wisdom teeth can spread to surrounding tissues. Likewise, pressure on the nerves can cause pain to radiate and cause headaches or even mimic symptoms of an ear infection. They can even cause ringing in the ears!
6. Signs of Impacted Wisdom Teeth at Your Regular Dental Visit
Even if your wisdom teeth aren’t causing any pain or discomfort, your dentist may notice signs of impaction at your regular dental check-up. In some cases, we may be able to see the top of an impacted wisdom tooth on your routine bitewing x-rays (the images we recommend about once per year to check for cavities).
We also frequently recommend a panoramic x-ray sometime around a person’s late teens or early twenties and periodically throughout your life to check for hidden issues in the jawbone where normal x-rays can’t reach. If our team notices problem wisdom teeth on your x-rays, we may recommend wisdom tooth extractions.
Can an Impacted Wisdom Tooth Correct Itself?
No, impacted wisdom teeth won’t fix themselves. Because they may not cause issues like pain problems with the movement of your jaw, many people ignore them. However, it’s important to understand that they can quietly cause serious damage over time and become much more difficult to remove later on.
Teeth normally develop inside a sac that plays a role in creating the structure of the tooth and helping it erupt. In impacted teeth, this sac can fill with fluid and expand, causing a cyst. This cyst can eat away at your jawbone or damage your other molars and lead to tooth loss.
In some cases, this cyst can turn into a tumor. These tumors are almost always benign, but can become cancerous in rare cancers. Even without becoming a tumor, the cyst itself can lead to infection, abscess, and even jaw fracture.
What Is the Process of Getting an Impacted Wisdom Tooth Removed?
The first step in handling impacted wisdom teeth in Phoenix and Gilbert is a comprehensive evaluation with our team. We’ll collect detailed digital images to evaluate your unique needs and determine the best approach. From there, we’ll plan your procedure and provide safe and effective pain control and sedation options to ensure a completely comfortable experience.
Because impacted wisdom teeth are covered by gum or bone tissue, we’ll need to get them out of the way to access the wisdom tooth. That may mean making a small incision in the gums or removing a tiny amount of bone. This is called a surgical extraction. But don’t worry, surgical wisdom tooth extractions are still routine procedures that we perform regularly.
If the wisdom tooth has caused a cyst or other jawbone fault, we may need to place bone grafting material to rebuild and reinforce the jawbone and keep it healthy long-term.
We’ll provide detailed instructions for how to recover from having impacted wisdom teeth removed. Of course, if you have any questions during your healing process, we’re always here for you!
Struggling with Impacted Wisdom Teeth in Arizona? We’re Here to Help.
Impacted wisdom teeth can be a pain, literally. The good news is that we can resolve your discomfort and protect your health with wisdom teeth extractions. The sooner you get problem wisdom teeth removed, the more straightforward your procedure will be and less potential there is for impacted teeth to cause unnecessary harm.
If you’re worried about getting impacted wisdom teeth removed in Phoenix or Gilbert, we’ve got you covered. We’re proud to have an incredibly skilled board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon on our team, meaning you can get comprehensive care for the most complex wisdom tooth issues right here in the comfort of your regular dental office. Get in touch to schedule your consultation for impacted wisdom teeth in Arizona today!
