Wisdom Teeth

The wisdom teeth are the teeth located at the back of the mouth. Since they are in a hard-to-reach and hard-to-see area, brushing and maintenance can be more difficult than other teeth. Due to inadequate brushing, wisdom teeth can easily decay, causing pain and bad breath.

In some cases, wisdom teeth cannot erupt due to space limitations in the jaw. They can remain fully impacted (not visible in the mouth under both the gum and the jawbone) or they can remain half-embedded under the gum and become associated with the oral environment. In this case, they cause infection by causing food to get stuck and accumulate in the area where they emerge from the gum. Swelling and redness of the gum around the wisdom tooth, severe pain radiating to the neck and ear, swelling of the lymph nodes, pain during mouth opening and swallowing are called pericoronitis.

Fully impacted wisdom teeth can compress the teeth in front of them and cause crowding (curvature) in the teeth. They can also put pressure on the neighboring tooth and cause this tooth to decay. Impacted wisdom teeth that go unnoticed for many years can cause serious problems by causing cysts that reach large sizes in the jaw.

Even if it does not cause any problems, wisdom teeth may need to be extracted for orthodontic treatment in order for the other teeth to line up properly. For such reasons, wisdom teeth should be extracted with local anesthesia by numbing only the area where they are located.
Extraction of wisdom teeth should be performed by maxillofacial surgeons.