Between the ages 16 and 20, the third permanent molars, better known as wisdom teeth, make their appearance in the mouth. If there is enough space to accommodate these teeth, you probably wouldn’t know you had them. In most cases there is insufficient space for these teeth to erupt and they beome impacted or trapped in the bone. Sometimes they are trapped once they’ve started erupting, rendering them half erupted, half unerupted.

The mode of treatment most subscribed to is removal of all four wisdom teeth simultaneously under general anaesthesia. This is usually performed by a Maxillo-Facial surgeon.

Depending on the severity of impaction, a dentist can also remove wisdom teeth, especially if only one or two teeth need to be removed.

Why remove wisdom teeth? Why not just leave them as they are?

• Food gets trapped between the wisdom tooth and the second molar. This can lead to tooth decay on the second molar which is needed for function in the mouth. Thus you lose a functional tooth for the sake of keeping a non-functional tooth.
• Very often continuous infection comes about in the gum surrounding the tooth, causing a lot of pain and discomfort, especially when eating. It is very difficult to cleanse in between a partially erupted tooth and another. Also it’s hard to reach that far back with floss and a toothbrush.
• As mentioned already, it’s very hard to keep clean as far back as the wisdom teeth. Often the wisdom teeth become decayed, which is often impossible to restore and extraction becomes necessary.
• Wisdom teeth don’t serve much of a function and are therefore not essential to maintain stability of the bite. They take up space which could rather be used to relieve/prevent crowding of other functionally essential teeth.
• Wisdom teeth are often associated with cysts which, should they become malignant, can be devastatingly destructive.