Wisdom Tooth Treatment

Wisdom teeth are the last to come through, usually between seventeen and twenty-five, into a jaw the other teeth have already filled. Where there is no room the tooth stops part-way or tilts against the molar in front, and removing it is what settles the problem for good.

A tooth that is partly through sits under a flap of gum that food and bacteria collect under and a toothbrush cannot reach. That is what causes the repeated swelling and the bad taste.

Your dentist feels behind the last molar and looks for a flap of inflamed gum, and checks how far you can open your mouth, since a jaw that has stiffened points to infection spreading into the muscle.

A panoramic X-ray shows all four wisdom teeth at once: which way each is lying, how much bone covers it, and how close the roots come to the nerve running through the lower jaw. That last measurement decides how the tooth is taken out and what you are warned about beforehand.

Swelling peaks on the second or third day and then settles over a week. Ice for the first day, then warm salt-water rinses from the day after, and soft food for about a week.

Most people take three or four days away from work when a lower tooth has been removed surgically. Stitches either dissolve or are taken out at a week. Numbness of the lip or tongue that lasts beyond a few hours should be reported.