First of all, with pericoronitis, you are going to experience pain and swelling. What makes it worse is that you may accidentally bite on the swollen soft tissue, further traumatising the gum. You are expected to have difficulty in eating for that few days.
Untreated pericoronitis may give rise to systemic symptom such as fever and malaise. Untreated dental infection may also lead to cellulitis, characterised by facial swelling. In rare occasion, dental infection may be life-threatening if the swelling of soft tissue causes blockage of the airway.
More often than not, you may find pericoronitis resolves on it’s own. However, due to the orientation of the wisdom tooth, it will recur.
It is always advisable to remove wisdom earlier rather than later due to the fact that at younger age, the root may be shorter (due to incomplete root formation) and the bone may be softer. Hence, the extraction may be less traumatic which translates into less post op pain.
