In the back of the mouth, most adults get three molars, the teeth that are used for grinding food, in the four quadrants of their mouth (lower and upper right, lower and upper left). The tooth farthest to the back in each quadrant is called a wisdom tooth, because it appears around ages 17 to 25, when one has hopefully attained some wisdom.
Paleoanthropologists believe humans and the creatures they descended from evolved wisdom teeth as replacements for molars that were damaged from a rough diet of roots, leaves, and raw meat. Wisdom teeth now tend to crowd out the other molars when they emerge. Not only that, they tend to be misaligned. They can be angled inward or outward, or even horizontal. Obviously, this can damage adjacent teeth, jawbone, or even nerves.
Another thing that can happen with troublesome wisdom teeth is that they can be impacted. This condition occurs when the wisdom tooth is enclosed within the soft tissue of the gum or jawbone or is possibly partly erupting from the gum. If there is an eruption through the gum, then bacteria can enter and cause infection, resulting in swelling, pain, and jaw stiffness. The infection can cause gum disease and cavities.
* Pain
* Red or swollen gums
* Swelling around the jaw
* Bad breath
* Tender or bleeding gums
* Headache
* An unpleasant taste in your mouth
A dentist may recommend that your wisdom teeth be extracted even before they cause problems. The purpose of this is to avoid a more painful or more difficult extraction that might need to be done in the future. In general, such extractions are easier in younger patients, because the wisdom tooth roots are not yet fully grown and the bone is less dense.
A dentist can diagnose impacted wisdom teeth with a visual inspection. Sometimes the patient may be given a panoramic x-ray or CT scan to assess the condition of the teeth. Your dentist may also refer you to an oral surgeon for evaluation. The standard treatment for an impacted wisdom tooth is to extract it. This usually involves removing a small amount of the jaw bone surrounding the tooth and then cutting the tooth apart and extracting it in pieces. The patient with be given a local or general anesthetic for this procedure
