Is Wisdom Tooth Infection An Emergency?
Emergency dental care becomes essential if you have a wisdom tooth infection and a severely impacted wisdom tooth. When an impacted wisdom tooth becomes infected, it causes pain in the posterior region of the mouth affecting the tooth or spreading throughout the mouth if left untreated. The infection can result in tooth loss and expensive repair work. Therefore if you are suffering from wisdom tooth pain, you must contact the Oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Toronto East maxillofacial surgery for advice.
Between the ages of 17 and 25, wisdom teeth begin appearing in the posterior regions of your mouth. Your upper and lower jaw both have one final molar appearing later than the rest. Fortunately, some people don’t develop any wisdom teeth, while the unfortunate may have all four. If you have an impacted and infected wisdom tooth at the back of your mouth, you require emergency dental care to eliminate the infection and the wisdom tooth causing it.
What Are Impacted Wisdom Teeth?
Your wisdom teeth remain impacted below the gum line if your jaw is too small to accommodate them. Impacted wisdom teeth require dental treatment because if left untreated, the impaction contributes to infections in the wisdom teeth.
If you have impacted wisdom teeth trapped below the gum line, they are likely to grow at an angle towards the other teeth because they try to submerge from your gum line but come into contact with the neighbouring teeth. The impaction causes discomfort resulting in inflammation, bleeding, and bad breath.
You may also experience symptoms of wisdom teeth infections that contribute to swelling of the gums, bleeding gums and redness, challenges when eating or chewing, and an unpleasant taste in your mouth.
Whenever you encounter wisdom teeth pain and the unpleasant symptoms associated with infections, you must contact the dentist to inquire how you can overcome the discomfort. The dentist will likely recommend wisdom teeth removal to ensure the condition doesn’t spread to other parts of your body to cause general illnesses. Emergency dentists will evaluate your wisdom teeth using diagnostic tests to determine which treatment best suits your specific needs.
If you schedule regular dental checkups, dentists evaluate your oral condition to identify tooth decay and wisdom teeth infections. When detected, early wisdom teeth infections are treated before you begin experiencing painful symptoms besides a threat to your overall health. Early decisions are needed on how to treat impacted wisdom teeth with high risks of infections. Not receiving treatment for the impacted wisdom teeth also makes you a victim of misalignments requiring an orthodontist’s treatment for teeth straightening.
Treating Wisdom Teeth Infections
Regular dental visits help dentists identify early signs of wisdom teeth infections such as pericoronitis and gum disease to provide essential treatment. In addition, emergency dentists have the training and experience to treat wisdom teeth infections besides other oral illnesses.
The emergency dentist cleans the infected area to remove plaque and debris. If necessary, the dental infection is eliminated through dental infection removal, root canals, or wisdom teeth removal surgery. Wisdom teeth removal prevents the infections from recurring to leave you with better dental health. Wherever possible, dentists try to preserve the existing tooth structure.
After undergoing wisdom teeth removal, it is time for you to begin wisdom teeth removal recovery requiring over two weeks. The emergency dentists provide all advice on how to care for the extraction site during the healing period after wisdom tooth extraction.
Wisdom teeth removal is a standard procedure for all dentists or oral surgeons to remove your final molars. The process of removing wisdom teeth is surgical and requires approximately 45 minutes to complete the system. However, you will likely remain in the surgeon’s office until you recover from the anesthesia provided during the removal.
When returning home after wisdom teeth extraction, the dentist advises you to care for the extraction site by avoiding hard, spicy, and hot foods, avoiding smoking and alcohol, resting for at least 24 hours without engaging in strenuous activities, and existing on a diet of soft foods until you recover from the procedure. You also receive pain relievers to ensure you comfortably manage the surgical process discomfort during your recovery process. If you follow your dentist’s advice, you should recover from the surgical procedure without significant complications because the dentists would have eliminated your impacted wisdom teeth and the infection affecting them in one short dental surgery.
Whenever you experience the symptoms of wisdom teeth pain, contact your oral surgeon for emergency treatment to prevent the infection from spreading throughout your mouth.