Dr. Isabelle Farmer is a practicing dentist at Houston SmileDocs in Texas. A graduate of Texas A&M University and the University of Texas Dental School, she went on to start her dental practice in 1984. Here she explains what you need to know about getting your wisdom teeth removed.
When a patient comes in who clearly needs to have his wisdom teeth removed, I generally recommend that he see an oral surgeon for the procedure. That is because oral surgeons are really the experts in that field, more so than a general dentist. However, determining whether a patient actually needs to have his wisdom teeth removed is an issue that depends on a couple of factors.
The way most dentists determine whether or not a patient needs to have his wisdom teeth taken out has a lot to do with the amount of space inside the mouth and whether or not those new wisdom teeth can be kept clean based on their location.
So, what I will generally look for when making the determination is:
- Where have the wisdom teeth erupted in the mouth?
- Is the new wisdom tooth positioned in a way that allows for the patient to clean that tooth—and those surrounding it—properly on a day-to-day basis?
What can oftentimes happen is that if the wisdom tooth erupts in a certain way, it can make it nearly impossible for the patient to brush it—allowing bacteria to accumulate around the wisdom tooth and other teeth in the mouth. For the majority of patients, they either have the ability to keep their wisdom teeth clean or they don’t. It is that simple. Wisdom teeth can be fully erupted, but be in such a difficult location to brush and floss that a patient is better off getting them removed because they threaten the health of the teeth around them and promote the growth of dangerous bacteria. This can obviously lead to major problems down the line, which is why I would recommend that patients with this problem seek out an oral surgeon and have their wisdom teeth removed.
One of the most dangerous problems associated with the buildup of bacteria around new wisdom teeth can be a high likelihood for infection. This is a problem that patients want to avoid at all costs, as any dentist would tell them. I know this well, having had a wisdom tooth infection myself as a college student. For me, this was due to my dentist not telling me to get my wisdom teeth out, which ended up leading to considerable pain and infection. So this is one of the reasons why I am pretty adamant about making sure my patients know the facts about wisdom teeth and the chances of infection.
In general, it is a whole lot easier to get your wisdom teeth out than to wait until they are infected. As a patient, I know it is much more difficult to recover from infection than it is simply to have the wisdom teeth removed and to recover from that procedure. When you have the procedure done, you don’t have nearly the amount of pain that you could expect to have from a tooth infection. So it is a lot easier to take these teeth out preventatively than to wait for something bad to happen and worry about the issue then.
In regards to the room in a patient’s mouth, whether or not a patient keeps his wisdom teeth also depends largely on whether he has enough space to accommodate the new teeth without obstructing his other teeth in his mouth. This is usually quite clear—patients either have the room for their wisdom teeth to come in or they do not. Keeping the teeth you already have in place and clean is more important than anything else, so making the decision to get rid of the wisdom teeth, if this is going to be a problem, is usually a simple choice.
So, as a rule of thumb, I advise patients to first seek the advice of a general dentist if they are concerned about their wisdom teeth erupting, and that dentist will then recommend the patient to an oral surgeon if something needs to be done. It is always better to be proactive and cautious rather to allow bacteria to build and an infection to set in when you’re dealing with the growth of new wisdom teeth.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
