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Extract My Wisdom Teeth or Wait Until They Bother Me?

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I have four impacted wisdom teeth. I’m 24 years old and only one of them is bothering me. While I know I need to extract the one that is having the problem, do I need to extract the remainder of the teeth or can I wait until they are actually bothering me? One of the things I am a bit concerned about is that one of the teeth has a root that is past a nerve. My dentist is suggesting leaving that root there and just removing the tooth part.

Kristin

Dear Kristin,

A woman in pain holding her jaw, needing an emergency dentist.

While you are young, as you are now, it is relatively easy to remove your wisdom teeth. That is because everything is rather pliable at your age. The older you get, the more difficult these extractions become. By the time you are 30, your chances of complications double. They double again every five years.

Because you are dealing with impacted wisdom teeth, it is not a matter of whether or not your wisdom teeth will become a problem but when. If your wisdom teeth were completely erupted, I would say leave them as it. However, yours are impacted. In my opinion, you are better off to get them all done at once while there is the least chance of complications.

As for the tooth root that is near a nerve. Your dentist was right to suggest leaving the root in order to avoid the nerve. However, I do not recommend leaving the entire root. I would only leave the very tip. This way your body is less likely to see it as a problem and will leave it alone.

What you do NOT want to do is wait until one of the wisdom teeth becomes infected, because then you will have a dental emergency on your hand. The good news is that wisdom teeth do not have to be replaced the way your other teeth do.

If you were to lose a different tooth, it would be essential that you replace it with something like a dental implant. This way the other teeth don’t shift or tip the remainder of your teeth into an empty space.

This blog is brought to you by Kalamazoo Dentist Dr. Susan Dennis.

Dentist Only Will Extract One Tooth

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I had a root canal done on a back tooth and am now planning on getting an infected and impacted wisdom tooth extracted. The tooth which had the root canal treatment still bothers me. I want both teeth extracted, but my dentist only wants to take out the wisdom tooth. I’ve decided to wait until I can get a dentist who will do both. But, it’s hard to get second opinions right now with COVID-19 going on. Can you recommend someone who would just do the procedure?

Mandy

Dear Mandy,

woman holding her jaw in need of an emergency dentist

I can’t tell you what dentists will agree to what you want, but I do have something for you to think about which may help you decide how to proceed. I’m trying to picture your dentist being offered to take out two teeth instead of one. He’d certainly make more money doing that. Who would want to turn down more money, especially now when dentists are having a severe loss in income due to the COVID-19 quarantine?

I can only think of one reason. He’s a man of integrity and feels the tooth treated with the root canal treatment is fine. Often an infection or impaction in one tooth can refer pain to another. Plus, he’s saving you significant money. Not only will you not have to pay for a second extraction, but you won’t have the cost of replacing that second tooth.

Don’t Put Off Treating Tooth Infections

I’m concerned that you’re putting off getting an infected tooth treated. These are considered dental emergencies for a very good reason. Your jaw is in close proximity to your brain, heart, and lungs. Unlike other infections, antibiotics alone aren’t enough for treatment. All they do is temporarily hold the infection off.

In order to treat this, a dentist has to physically go in and remove the infected tissue. This is typically done with a root canal treatment unless the tooth is too far gone or, like in your case, it is an impacted tooth which needs to be removed anyway. When that happens, they extract the tooth.

I’m going to strongly suggest you get the wisdom tooth extracted. If after you’ve healed from that your tooth with the root canal treatment is still bothering you, then you have all the “I told you so” rights and can have the second tooth extracted.

This blog is brought to you by Emergency Dentist Dr. Susan Dennis of Portage, MI.