What is Wisdom tooth?

Delayed eruption or failure of teeth to erupt:

The average eruption times of teeth are mentioned in our previous article, however some people may experience difficulties in tooth eruption in the sense that the teeth may erupt with a delay or may not erupt at all. Some families have a tendency towards late eruption, in such a case the best approach is to wait for the tooth to erupt normally.

Similarly people who take less Calcium in diet also experience late tooth eruption. The very first thing your dentist would do is to take X-ray to check if the tooth is present in the jawbone or not, if the tooth is present in the jawbone, the eruption can be facilitated by incising the gum overlying the tooth or by using orthodontic wires.

If however, there is no tooth seen on X-ray then the only option left is to put an artificial tooth as a replacement.

Wisdom tooth:

Wisdom teeth are the last teeth in the upper and lower jaw. If there is not sufficient space in the jaw for these teeth to erupt, they often cause repeated pain.

The ideal age for these teeth to erupt is 17-25 years of age, if they do not erupt till this age, it is better to get them removed to avoid any complication caused by wisdom tooth later in life, however in certain patients, successful eruption of wisdom teeth can occur in 30 years of life and in many wisdom teeth do not cause any problems if left as such.

Commonly wisdom teeth erupt incompletely due to which a space between gum and teeth is formed and here all the food debris and bacteria are accumulated which causes pain and swelling. Proper cleaning is encouraged around partially erupted wisdom teeth.

Signs & symptoms & treatment of wisdom teeth.

Signs & Symptoms

Pain around wisdom tooth that extends to jaw. Swelling around wisdom tooth. Decay or gum infection around wisdom tooth.

Treatment

If wisdom tooth shows no sign of eruption beyond 25 years of age and patient has constant symptoms, extraction of the tooth is advised.

Complications of retaining wisdom tooth:

Periodontal disease, gum infection, pain, tooth decay, root resorption of adjacent teeth and possible development of cyst or tumour. However in most cases, wisdom tooth remains dormant and other than regular cleaning around it, no treatment is recommended in the absence of symptoms.