Why Get Your Wisdom Teeth Out?

Your wisdom teeth, also called third molars, come in around 17 to 21 years of age. A few of you will be lucky enough to have room for the wisdom teeth to be in your mouth—but even then, they are often hard to keep clean because of where they are located. Bacteria that cause gum disease and tooth decay can get trapped around your wisdom teeth.

Wisdom teeth that are not able to come fully into your mouth are at risk for infection (usually with pain) and can cause damage to your neighboring teeth. The sac around the developing tooth can also become filled with fluid (cyst) and enlarge. Cysts can damage your jawbone and/or develop into a tumor.

Your wisdom teeth may crowd nearby teeth. Pressure from your wisdom teeth can even wear a hole into a nearby tooth. That hole quickly becomes a cavity when decay causing bacteria set up shop.

Sometimes your wisdom teeth will change your bite and cause your teeth to wear unevenly or make them harder to clean.

It has been our experience that young, healthy patients recover more quickly than those who wait until they are older to have their wisdom teeth removed. Wisdom tooth roots are often not as completely formed in the 25 and under crowd.

Remember, when it comes to wisdom teeth, the worst thing you can do is ignore them!

Dr. Jennifer Robb is a general dentist. She can evaluate your wisdom teeth but, In most cases, wisdom teeth will be referred to an oral surgeon for removal.

If you have wisdom teeth that you’d like evaluated, please call 440-960-1940. Dr. Robb is located at 1612 Cooper Foster Park Rd., Lorain, OH. www.drjrobb.com or on Facebook www.facebook.com/DrJenniferRobb