What are wisdom teeth? • Wisdom teeth are the third and last set of molars to erupt on both lower and upper jaws. • They erupt during the late teen years to early twenties. • Most times when these teeth grow, they do not have enough space in the jaw to fully erupt and therefore become impacted or blocked. Dental Impactions • A tooth is said to be impacted when it does not erupt within the expected time and/or in the expected position. • The impacted tooth can be misaligned or malaligned, i.e. positioned horizontally, angled towards or away from the adjacent tooth as well as towards the cheek or the tongue. • In some cases, the impacted tooth is not visible and is enclosed within the gum and/or bone, which is diagnosed by means of an x-ray image. • In other cases the tooth may erupt through the gum and become visible in the mouth. Symptoms • Impacted wisdom teeth may sometimes not have any symptoms, which mean you may have impacted teeth without knowing about it. • The symptoms that arise include: 1. Swollen and infected gums around the impacted tooth 2. Pain 3. Swelling around the jaw 4. Bad breath ( food impaction) 5. Headache and earache 6. Stiffness of the jaw Complications from impacted teeth that have not been removed • Pericoronitis: an infection that causes inflammation of the soft tissue that surrounds the crown of an impacted tooth. Pericoronitis can be mild or severe and may result in difficulty opening the mouth known as trismus. • Food impaction: a partially erupted wisdom tooth can trap food and allow bacteria to enter around the tooth causing decay, pain and swelling. • Gum disease: the teeth adjacent to the impacted teeth are prone to gum disease because the area becomes difficult to clean and therefore harbours bacteria which leads to gum disease. • Tooth decay: food entrapment and the difficulty in cleaning the area may also lead to decay of both the impacted tooth and the adjacent tooth. Management • If any of the above symptoms are present, your dental health provider may suggest having the wisdom teeth removed after positive diagnosis. • A dentist or oral surgeon performs the procedure to remove the teeth which may be a normal or surgical extraction depending on the position of the teeth. • The procedure can be done under local anaesthesia to numb your mouth and remove teeth on the dental chair, usually for uncomplicated cases. • It can also be done under general anaesthesia to make you sleep and not feel anything during the procedure. • Medication in the form of antibiotics and painkillers is prescribed to help with recovery.