It’s common for dentists to recommend that people have their wisdom teeth removed, but you might not understand why this is. It’s not because dentists perfunctorily recommend extractions; although safe, those aren’t a first resort. Instead, it’s because wisdom teeth often put a patient at risk for gum disease and misalignment. At All Coast Dental in Pacific Beach, we provide care to patients of all ages and provide wisdom teeth extractions as well as gum disease treatment, so we wanted to explain to patients the danger of pericoronitis.
The wisdom teeth are the largest molars, and they usually don’t erupt until a person is on the cusp of adolescence. This is a problem because modern people’s mouths usually aren’t large enough to allow their wisdom teeth to erupt fully. Instead, the wisdom teeth become impacted, which is what dentists call a tooth that is stuck and only partially exposed. This creates problems for the other teeth because the wisdom teeth are pushing on them, moving them out of place. The partly-erupted teeth also tend to be difficult to clean. Food debris gets trapped under the gum flap partially covering the teeth, which is called an operculum, and bacterial infections result. “Pericoronitis” is the term we use to refer to inflammation in the area surrounding a tooth’s crown.
During a routine cleaning, we can remove food debris from the operculum and prescribe antibiotics for an infection. But the problem is likely to recur, and even if the operculum is removed, the impacted tooth is still hard to brush and puts pressure on other teeth. Extracting an impacted tooth might be more complicated than a regular extraction if we need to make an incision in the gum, but in those cases, we will monitor the patient’s recovery and help them to understand how to care for themselves during the short period of recovery.
Drs. Julie and Joseph Boulos operate All Coast Dental at 2180 Garnet Ave, Suite 1-K, Pacific Beach, California, 92109. To schedule an appointment, call 858-270-4904 or visit All Coast Dental and fill out a contact sheet.