When wisdom teeth extraction is good for your health

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

By keeping the eights, you risk ruining other teeth and enduring many painful minutes.

What are wisdom teeth and are they needed

Everyone knows that a healthy adult has 32 teeth. But not everyone is aware that this is a somewhat outdated view.

In fact, the current norm is 28 teeth.

However, there can be up to 32 of them if you have erupted rudimentary teeth.

A short excursion into the dental history of mankind draws the following picture. Our distant ancestors, forced to chew raw meat for a long time and tediously, roots, tough plant fibers, for obvious reasons, had a much wider jaw than ours. They really fit 32 teeth: 16 at the top and at the bottom.

However, over time, when mankind switched to thermally processed food, the need for teeth with a wide chewing surface (molars) began to disappear. In addition, the brain increased in size, partly displacing the jaw bones.

As a result of all these processes, the jaws became narrower. And the farthest chewing teeth - the so-called third molars or eights - turned out to be unnecessary. And for some people, by the modern era, they disappeared altogether. However, not all.

In some, rudimentary teeth still tend to erupt, even though there may not be enough room in the mouth. This usually happens at the age of 17-25, when childhood is already over. That is why, in relation to age, third molars are called wisdom teeth.

Is it necessary to remove a wisdom tooth

No. The human body is full of rudiments with which we get along quite well. For example, the tailbone, appendix, or muscles that allow the ears to move. As long as these traces of the past do not interfere, doctors prefer not to touch them: the harm from surgery may be more than good.

Wisdom teeth removal: When is it necessary? alone if they:

• are healthy and do not cause discomfort;
• fully grown;
• correctly positioned (vertically: root below, crown above), symmetrical and does not put pressure on adjacent teeth;
• easily accessible for daily cleaning.

This usually happens if the wisdom teeth have enough space in the jaw.

However, some dentists recommend Should wisdom teeth be removed? remove rudiments in any case, citing the fact that one day third molars can still lead to problems. But there are also reasons to leave. For example, eights sometimes serve as support for bridges if other teeth collapse.

If wisdom teeth do not hurt and do not cause any other trouble, you need to decide on their removal with a dentist you trust.

However, sometimes the jaw is designed in such a way that the rudimentary eights do not fit in it.

When is it necessary to remove wisdom teeth

It is worth parting with them in the following cases of Wisdom Teeth Removal: What Adults Should Expect.

1. Wisdom teeth are there, but they just can't cut through

Because of this, third molars sometimes press on the gums or jaw bones, causing pain and swelling. In addition, bacteria often accumulate on eights, due to which the gums become inflamed. This is fraught with the loss of other teeth.

2. Wisdom teeth cut through, but not enough

It is generally difficult to reach the back of the jaws with a toothbrush. And if the teeth growing there only slightly rise above the gum, it is almost impossible to thoroughly clean them. As a result, third molars become the focus of caries development. With all the attendant problems: from severe pain to the risk of blood poisoning.

3. Wisdom teeth grow at an angle

Normal healthy teeth grow vertically: root down, crown up. Eights, on the other hand, due to lack of space, often spin in the gums: they lie horizontally and even turn upside down. Because of this, they put pressure on the adjacent teeth, including from the inside, in the gums, causing pain and destruction.

In addition, in an effort to free up space for themselves, third molars push other teeth away. This can cause malocclusion throughout the entire dentition.

4. Wisdom teeth just don't fit in the jaw

This can cause destruction not only of other teeth, but also of the jawbone. Excessive pressure on soft and bone tissues and inflammation often lead to other, at first glance, problems not related to dentistry - diseases of the jaw joints and masticatory muscles, sinusitis, neurological disorders.

How to remove wisdom teeth

This is the task of the dental surgeon. If you have pain and discomfort in the back of the jaw, the specialist will find out if the 8 is really to blame. You may have to heal completely different teeth. Next, the doctor will assess the condition and location of the third molars.

If there are no complex pathologies, removal will take just a couple of minutes and will require only local anesthesia. In more serious cases, surgery may be required under sedative (sleep-inducing) drugs.

Recovery after a wisdom tooth extraction takes from five days to two weeks. During this period, your dentist may prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs, pain relievers and vitamins.