Many patients come to us every year complaining of problems with wisdom teeth. Many times, the problem is as a result of an infection in the gum overlying the wisdom tooth as it breaks through the gum. This is usually relatively easy to control using antibiotics and good oral hygiene measures. And if the wisdom tooth is coming through in the correct orientation and has enough space to erupt into, control of these local and short-lived infections is often the only issue.
However, the problems really start if the wisdom tooth is not coming through at the correct angle or has insufficient space. The picture illustrates what can happen next.
In this example, the wisdom tooth has ‘crashed’ into the back of the tooth in front. Over time this has resulted in decay on the wisdom tooth and has also seriously compromised the tooth in front to such an extent that the tooth had to be lost. This is what happens when an impacted wisdom tooth is not taken out in good time.
At Quirke Dental Surgeons, we always assess the likelyhood of wisdom teeth causing this type of problem and will recommend early extraction if we feel that the above scenario is likely to occur in the future. We can refer extraction of wisdom teeth to our visiting specialist oral surgeon if necessary for the procedure to be completed in New Ross.
