Wisdom teeth are the most unpredictable teeth in the mouth. For some people, they come out perfectly and act like regular teeth. For others, wisdom teeth can be a complete nuisance. Wisdom teeth are the ones at the very back of your mouth (the third molars).
When a wisdom tooth is coming at a funny angle, it can become impacted, which means it gets stuck in an abnormal position.
Some wisdom teeth become impacted deep in your jawbone. These wisdom teeth don't come out into your mouth, and they rarely cause any problems. If you don't think you have any wisdom teeth, there is a chance that you do, but it just remains buried in your jaw somewhere.
Other impacted teeth come out of the gum into your mouth but not entirely, known as partially erupted wisdom teeth. These are the ones that cause the most problems.
Impacted upper wisdom tooth
Impacted lower wisdom tooth
X-ray showing 2 impacted teeth that never came through
Issues with impacted wisdom teeth
Most of the problems occur because impacted wisdom teeth are tough to clean. If you have an impacted wisdom tooth but can clean it effectively, you can leave it the way it is without any issues. Wisdom teeth do not push against your other teeth to make them crooked. This happens naturally to your other teeth anyway.
Bad breath
Impacted wisdom teeth can trap food and bacteria in your mouth, which can lead to bad smells and breath coming from your mouth. it’s important to keep the gum around your wisdom tooth clean.
Pericoronitis
The gum around the wisdom tooth can trap plaque, bacteria and food and become inflamed or infected. Pericoronitis can be very painful but can usually be self-managed. Many wisdom teeth may cause pericoronitis a few times as they come through the gum but then settle into a stable position.
The typical pain people associate with having wisdom teeth is caused by pericoronitis.
Read more about pericoronitis here.
Tooth decay
Because impacted teeth are hard to clean, you can have lots of trapped food and sugars around your wisdom tooth. This can lead to issues such as tooth decay.
Impacted wisdom teeth are tough to get to, so putting a filling in them is difficult. Even a small amount of decay can mean the tooth needs to be removed.
To make things even worse, when there is food trapping, it can also cause decay deep below the gumline of the tooth in front of it as well, meaning that both the wisdom tooth and the molar in front of it need to be removed.
Is it necessary to remove impacted wisdom teeth?
You don’t need to remove your wisdom if they are easy to clean and do not cause any pain problems. It’s best to leave these teeth alone and make sure you are cleaning thoroughly in the area.
If you are getting repeated infections, or if the area around the impacted wisdom tooth is constantly trapping food and plaque, then removing the tooth would be beneficial to prevent more pain and problems in the future.
Speak to your dentist. They will look at the situation in your mouth and advise what the best thing to do is. Please remember to have regular checkups and hygiene cleanings to make sure it stays healthy.
How to keep impacted wisdom teeth clean
Impacted wisdom teeth can be challenging to clean properly, so here are a few tips that may help you avoid the problems mentioned above:
Brush twice a day with a good rechargeable electric toothbrush. These brushes are much better at cleaning difficult areas than manual ones. Our recommended brushes are:
Use mouthwash throughout the day to clear food debris away from your wisdom tooth
Use special bushes if you are struggling to reach your wisdom tooth, like this single tufted toothbrush that can get around tricky corners of your mouth
Speak to our online dentists
If you need more help with your wisdom teeth, click the button below to speak to our online dentists who will be in touch to help assess your teeth and help with anything you need.