When they’re healthy, most of your natural teeth shouldn’t cause you any problems. Keeping them consistently healthy can help you continue avoiding most of the issues that could threaten your smile. However, this isn’t always true in the case of wisdom teeth, or third molars. For many people who develop them, wisdom teeth can become highly problematic, and there is often no way to restore or fix them. When this occurs, the most frequent solution is to surgically remove the molars that have become impacted.
Your third set of permanent molars
Wisdom teeth is the common name people use to refer to their third set of permanent molars. They typically start to develop between the ages of 17-25, which was once known as the Age of Wisdom. By this time, most people have their dental ridges full of teeth, and there’s little room at the ends of them to accommodate the additional molars. Because of this, the third molars can often become impacted and unable to erupt properly. This leads to a number of different concerns and symptoms that will continue to grow worse until the impacted molars are removed.
The trouble that impaction can lead to
When any tooth becomes impacted, it can become a problem in several different ways. However, the problem with wisdom tooth impaction is that it often occurs while the molar is still developing. This means that, despite being impacted by a nearby tooth or the surrounding jawbone structure, the wisdom tooth will continue trying to grow and erupt. Depending on the angle of the tooth’s impaction, this can lead to severe discomfort around the tooth and within your jawbone structure, as well as increasingly worse damage to other healthy, natural teeth.
How to avoid or solve wisdom tooth problems
When your exhibit any other oral health concern, you can often resolve it in a way that helps you preserve your natural teeth and their functions. However, third molars are not necessary for your bite to function properly, and because their problems are due to limited space, restoring or saving them is usually not an option. The only way to resolve the problems that wisdom teeth cause is to have your impacted molars surgically extracted from within your dental ridge. This will stop them from continuing to push against your oral structures or leading to significant damage to your dental ridge or other teeth.
Learn how to deal with wisdom tooth problems
Wisdom teeth can often cause problems for people, but fortunately, extracting them can help resolve those problems and so you can preserve the rest of your smile. To learn more, or to schedule a consultation, call Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.
