Wisdom Teeth Symptoms

What are Wisdom Teeth?

Wisdom teeth are the last teeth at the back of your mouth. They are also the last teeth to erupt into your mouth. By the time wisdom teeth erupt into your mouth most of the space available has already been taken by your other teeth. Your wisdom teeth get pushed around and don’t come up fully.

This makes it difficult to clean your wisdom teeth.

Food and bacteria builds up causing the tooth in front of the wisdom tooth to rot resulting in pain and damage to this tooth.
food and bacteria build up around the wisdom tooth causing infection which results in pain and swelling.

The links below show 2 videos which contain some basic information about wisdom teeth

INFECTION , PAIN AND SWELLING

Wisdom teeth commonly become infected causing pain and swelling in your mouth and face. The gum around the wisdom tooth may bleed and your breath may smell. Infected wisdom teeth can result in headache, facial swelling, severe pain,inflamed tonsils and an upset stomach.

As the infection around the wisdom tooth becomes worse and spreads you may find it difficult to open or close your jaw, it becomes stiff (this is called Trismus) as the infection spreads into the muscles of your jaw which then cramp.

As the infection from your wisdom tooth spreads further your face may become red and swollen, pain levels will increase preventing you from sleeping and you will develop a temperature and start to feel unwell ( clammy/ hot and sweaty).

ROTTING TEETH

Food build up around wisdom teeth will rot the wisdom tooth and often the tooth beside the wisdom tooth. Rotting teeth will eventually cause pain and infection.

CROWDING OF YOUR FRONT TEETH

When wisdom teeth erupt into your mouth many patients report they suffer crowding of their front teeth. many orthodontists recommend removal of wisdom teeth when teeth are being straightened to prevent this.

CYSTS

Cyst formation around wisdom teeth is common. A cyst is like a small balloon expanding in the bone. It weakens the bone and is prone to infection.

Treatment

The treatment options are very simple.

Keep your wisdom teeth very clean and they will cause few if any problems.
If this is not possible then take out the wisdom teeth.

Wisdom Tooth Extraction–an Explanation

Elevation
Many wisdom teeth are close to the surface, they nearly made it fully into your mouth however there is still some gum covering them making the wisdom teeth impossible to clean. These wisdom teeth can be removed by “ELEVATION”.Elevating a wisdom tooth involves pressing down firmly beside the wisdom tooth and the wisdom tooth is forced to the surface. It normally takes between 20 seconds and one minute. The benefit of this procedure is that there is very little damage or trauma caused during the wisdom tooth extraction. The benefits of this are:
Very little pain after the wisdom tooth extraction.
No swelling on your face.
No stitches in your mouth.
The procedure will usually take less than a minute.
You should be able to resume normal activity once the numb feeling has left your face.
Due to the simplicity of this procedure you should be able to return to work the following day with little difficulty.

Surgical Removal
If a tooth cannot be elevated, it must be cut out of your jaw or “SURGICALLY REMOVED”.Surgical removal of a wisdom tooth will take between 7 to 8 minutes under normal circumstances. It will sometimes take longer if the tooth is difficult to reach or other factors slow the procedure. If you are awake you will feel as if you are having a filling at the back of your mouth. The procedure is not painful. Several dissolving sutures are placed in the gum once the wisdom tooth has been removed.The down side of a surgical extraction is that you should expect to have a sore and swollen face for 7 to 10 days. The swelling on your cheek will be golf ball in size and will take about one week to resolve. Your face and neck may be black and blue with bruising and you will often need several days off work and will need painkillers and antibiotic for several days after the wisdom tooth extraction until the socket has healed.

The surgical removal of a wisdom tooth involves

Lifting the gum beside the wisdom tooth and the surrounding bone.
Remove a small amount of bone to free up the wisdom tooth.
Cut the wisdom tooth in several small fragments.
Remove the individual fragments.
Several sutures are then placed in the gum to close the hole left after the wisdom toots extraction is complete, these stitches dissolve.

Sedation is often used so you are unaware of the procedure, but can recover quickly and return home.(please read the section on sedation).

Side Effects of removing Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom Teeth Symptoms - Murnane Oral Surgery

This x -ray shows an Impacted Wisdom Tooth with the nerve to lower lip and chin running across the roots. This patient was left with a numb lip after the tooth was removed.

The removal of wisdom teeth from the lower jaw may result in damage to the nerve which gives feeling to your lower lip, cheek and tongue resulting in a numb LIP, CHEEK, TONGUE which may be permanent.

There is a nerve below your wisdom tooth.All lower wisdom teeth are close to this nerve. About 1 in every 200 wisdom teeth will be touching this nerve. The removal of these lower wisdom teeth will result in damage/bruising to this nerve which results in a numb, pins and needles, tingling or dental injection feeling in your lip, chin, cheek or tongue on that side of your mouth.

It does not alter your appearance in any way.

This numb feeling usually lasts between 3 to 6 months before resolving. The numb feeling may last for 18 months in a small number of cases and any numbness which remains after 2 years is permanent and will last for the rest of your life.

The altered feeling may be permanent ! ! ! This is rare, but it does happen ! ! !

This is a recognised risk with the removal of all lower wisdom teeth.

One patient in every two hundred ( 1: 200 ) will have some numbness in there lip, cheek or tongue after the extraction of a lower wisdom tooth.

It is not possible to predict accurately from an x ray or scan who will have a numb lip after wisdom tooth removal and there is no effective treatment possible. However occasionally you will clearly see the nerve crossing the roots of wisdom teeth as in the x-ray opposite.

If it is suspected that a particular tooth is a high risk of causing nerve damage then one course of action open to you is to cut the top off the wisdmo tooth and leave the roots untouched

Does every wisdom tooth extraction carry the same risk?
No! It depends on the type and difficulty of the impaction and other factors. The figure of 1:200 is based on several studies and gives some idea of the frequency.

PAIN, BRUISING, SWELLING, BLEEDING AND INFECTION.

Removal of wisdom teeth will often result in a sore, bruised and swollen face for about a week.

There is a risk of bleeding on the day of the extraction and of infection in the days after the extraction. For this reason you will be prescribed painkillers and antibiotics. You will be asked to rest on the day the wisdom tooth is removed and have soft food only and in the days after the wisdom tooth removal you should keep your mouth as clean as possible with warm salt mouth washes and corsodyl or kin mouth wash.

DRY SOCKET

A dry socket is a recognised complication following any dental extraction. In occurs after approximately 4% of all dental extractions. A Dry Socket is an intense pain which occurs following an extraction. It is a failure or delay in bone healing.

A dry socket is more common after

However a dry socket may occur in anyone, after any extraction.

What is the cause of a Dry Socket

The cause is unknown, but it is believed to be a failure of the bone to heal related to an inadequate blood clot forming in the socket or premature loss of the blood clot.

The symptoms are PAIN and vary from mild to intense pain which will come on immediately after the dental extraction or approximately 3 days later.

The pain will normally last between 10 and 14 days. But the duration will vary and on rare occasions the symptoms may last much longer.

Treatment for Dry Socket

The pain is poorly or not relieved by painkillers, is constant and may keep you awake at night.

Antibiotics will make no difference.

Painkillers are generally ineffective and there is no effective treatment which a dentist can offer. It is best not to disturb the socket in the search for a cure as this can aggravate the condition.

CLOVE OIL from your chemist placed in the socket will help to alleviate the pain. It is unlikely to rid you of pain completely but the severity of the pain will reduce. This is the most effective treatment for dry socket. It is important that you keep the socket clean with warm salty mouth-wash and CORSODYL or KIN mouth wash.

Some dentist will place dressings in the socket in the hope of relieving the pain. This is effective in a minority of patients but also delays healing and may prolong the length of time with which you will suffer pain.

Once the dry socket has run its course the symptoms will resolve and healing will progress fully and naturally.