Wisdom teeth, the last set of molars to emerge, typically between 17 and 25, often lead to dental issues. At Link Dental, we can assess the need for their removal through visual inspection or X-ray imaging if they’ve surfaced or are still beneath the gum line.
While extracting wisdom teeth falls under oral surgery, the procedure can be performed by either your dentist or an oral surgeon, usually under general anesthesia, particularly for multiple extractions.
Link Dental specializes in pain-free wisdom teeth extraction, located in Culver City, CA, offering various dental sedation methods. For further details, please get in touch with our office!
While every patient is different, some common signs indicate the need to have your wisdom teeth removed. These signs include:
Many dentists recommend removing wisdom teeth early, before the roots and bone fully form and when recovery is faster.
For most patients, it takes between 4 days and two weeks to heal from the procedure. During this time, you may experience swelling and pain and should ensure that you get plenty of rest to quicken the healing process. Some things can lengthen the healing process, such as smoking, using straws, and not keeping proper oral hygiene.
When a wisdom tooth doesn’t have enough room to come in, it is usually considered an impacted wisdom tooth. Depending on where the teeth lie within the jaw, there are several degrees of impacted wisdom teeth. Soft tissue impaction occurs when the tooth’s crown has penetrated the bone, but the gum still covers part of the tooth.
When the tooth has partially erupted, but a part of the tooth remains submerged in the jawbone, this is considered partially bony impaction. Complete bony impaction occurs when the tooth is entirely encased by jawbone.