Wisdom teeth are the last teeth in your jaw bone. They usually come out at the age 16 to 24. If they are erupted, that’s good and they can help you chew food better if they are well aligned. Although, in many cases they don’t come out completely and if so, they will need to be extracted.
Why Would You Need a Wisdom Tooth Extraction?
Your dentists might suggest you a tooth extraction if the tooth is infected or to avoid future complications. So here are some indications for wisdom teeth extraction:
- If the jaw is not wide enough to allow the tooth to erupt in the alignment that is really useful for chewing.
- If the teeth are partly erupted, it allows bacteria to penetrate the tooth and it’s hard to brush it off so it causes the infection.
- Also, the misalignment of these teeth can cause difficulties and might damage other molar teeth.
- To minimal the risk of cysts formation that may appear on the wisdom teeth.
There are cases when the wisdom tooth might not come out completely, creating an operculum (extension of gum). While you chew your food, this operculum might get irritated or infected causing a pericoronitis.
If the extension of gum does not disappear, it’s better to remove the tooth to avoid future complications of pericoronitis.
Recovery After the Extraction
- Bleeding – the bleeding will stop soon after the extraction, but you will still have some blood seeping out the next 48 hours. But it’s not a problem as you might just put a cotton gauze over the place where the tooth was extracted and bite down on it.
- Pain – there might be some pain after but the painkillers that the doctor will recommend will help a lot.
- Swelling – If the extraction is complicated, there could be swelling of the face and even change of color of the skin. To reduce the swelling, a bag of ice should be placed on the face for ten minutes, every half hour.
- Foods – you should eat warm and soft food during the first 24 hours. Alcohol, hot drinks and smoking should be avoided.
