Wisdom teeth are the last to erupt from your gums and usually grow during your late teens or early twenties. When they come in straight, wisdom teeth seldom cause problems. However, they’re often vying for space, which leads to wisdom teeth that:
When any of these problems occur, you have impacted wisdom teeth.
Dr. Clyde Lee is our wisdom teeth specialist at Lee Dental in Frisco, Texas. When you have impacted wisdom teeth, the usual treatment is extraction to prevent overcrowding and infection.
While the presence of wisdom teeth is easy to confirm through dental X-rays, treatment may not be necessary until you start to experience symptoms. We’ll monitor your progress during regular dental visits, but you’ll need to know the symptoms of impacted wisdom teeth should they crop up between appointments.
The journey of an adult tooth starts in the bone of your jaw and ends with a fully emerged tooth. This doesn’t happen with an impacted wisdom tooth, and there are variations on the way a tooth might be impacted.
A wisdom tooth may be stuck in the bone of your jaw, a condition called hard tissue impaction. A soft tissue impaction occurs when the tooth erupts from the jaw but it’s still contained within the gum.
A fully impacted tooth is not visible at all, but you can see some portions of a partially impacted tooth emerging from your gums. Nonimpacted wisdom teeth have exposed crowns like your other adult teeth, but despite their emergence, they can still cause problems.
Impacted wisdom teeth are also notable by their positioning in your mouth. The most common type is mesial impaction, which occurs when one or more wisdom teeth angle toward the front of your mouth.
The symptoms associated with impacted wisdom teeth can develop slowly or appear suddenly. Telltale signs you’re dealing with impaction include:
Pain is a common symptom, and it can occur in different ways. Aching around an impacted tooth is often the first noticeable sign you have that a wisdom tooth has a problem. It can also radiate pain to other locations, causing headaches. Pain may be more severe if an impacted tooth becomes infected or abscessed.
Because impacted wisdom teeth are hard to clean, bacteria can accumulate and lead to decay and infection. Signs of infection include a sudden sour or salty taste in your mouth and white pockets of pus in your gum line.
Your gums can also reveal the presence of impacted wisdom teeth. Gum tissue may appear red or swollen and brushing may cause your gums to bleed.
Impacted teeth are often surrounded by swollen flaps of gum tissue that trap food particles and bacteria, leading to persistent bad breath (halitosis).
Impacted wisdom teeth can also interfere with the temporomandibular joint, the hinge that permits opening and closing of your mouth. If you have pain or trouble with jaw movement, your wisdom teeth could be to blame.
Sometimes, other teeth can reveal developing problems related to impacted wisdom teeth. When your other molars receive pressure from the back of your jaw, you may feel an aching pain that indicates your teeth are moving in reaction to the pressure. This may come and go as pressure changes.
You may discover another subtle sign of this movement when you’re flossing your teeth. Spaces where you once flossed easily could now be tight, making them difficult to thread with floss.
Contact the Lee Dental team when you detect symptoms of impacted wisdom teeth. Call or click to book your visit today.
