17 Mar Remove Impacted Wisdom Teeth: Reduce The Risk Of Gum Disease
You may know the dangers gum disease poses for your oral health, but did you realize that impacted wisdom teeth may actually raise your risk of developing the condition?
Difficulty with Impacted Teeth and Bacteria
It can be difficult to keep these impacted teeth clean due to their location at the back of the jaw. Even if your wisdom teeth erupted properly, they’d still be more prone to accumulating bacteria. When they emerge only partially, it can exacerbate matters. It’s tremendously difficult to keep those teeth clean with normal brushing and flossing techniques.
Subsequently, those bacteria can build up and attack the gum tissue, causing inflammation that leads to symptoms like redness, swelling or bleeding gums. As gum disease progresses, pockets may develop between the gums and the teeth, and the teeth may be lost.
Gum disease can cause issues like tooth loss and bone loss in its most advanced stages, so many patients may want to consult with one of our oral surgeons about having their wisdom teeth removed as a preventive measure. Although gum disease can be treated, preventing it from developing is a preferred course of action whenever that is possible.
Extraction can eliminate this risk of gum disease
Our oral surgeon can determine whether the third molars are impacted in patients as young as their early teens. Many patients choose to undergo the extraction procedure when they are in their late teens or early twenties, because removing the wisdom teeth tends to be more straightforward in younger patients, who also recover more quickly.
Wisdom tooth extraction does usually require an oral surgery procedure, due to the complex nature of removing impacted teeth. The surgeon may need to remove surrounding bone to extract the entire tooth. Discuss any concerns you have regarding oral surgery so that you are adequately prepared for the procedure.
If you want to reduce your risk of gum disease, along with the other negative outcomes that can be associated with impacted wisdom teeth, schedule an evaluation at our oral surgery practice to see if extraction is recommended in your case.
Call or visit Charlottesville Oral Surgery & Dental Implant Center today at any one of our three convenient locations.