In terms of giving you any personable advice, I completely agree with Dr Shiming. It’s really hard for us to comment until we’ve done an examination for yourself.
However, I thought I’d share with you some common reasons why wisdom teeth are extracted. If any apply to you or anyone else reading, then maybe you should consider to remove them.
- Pericoronitis. If the wisdom can’t erupt fully, there may be a flap of loose gum which lies over or around the erupted portion of the wisdom tooth. Food and bacteria can get stuck under this flap and cause a localised gum infection. NICE guidelines advise 2 counts or more of pericoronitis is an indication for removal of the wisdom tooth.
- Dental decay. That flap of gum I was talking about, when food gets stuck repeatedly under the gum, then the wisdom tooth is at risk of decay. Even if the tooth has fully come out of the gum, it might be at at funny angle, again causing food packing. Even if it’s fully straight, it’s furthest back in the mouth and some patients struggle to clean this area properly.
- Damage to other teeth. If food repeatedly gets stuck around the wisdom tooth, the tooth next to it has a higher risk of developing decay. Also, if the wisdom tooth has no opposing tooth, it can erupt into the space, possibly causing trauma to the opposing soft tissue.
- Dentigerous cyst. The most common location of a dentigerious cyst are the lower third molars (wisdom teeth). Early detection and removal of dentigerous cysts is important to reduce further morbidity.
Hope this has at least provided some useful information 🙂
