What To Expect When Getting Your Wisdom Tooth Removed

Dental crown dentists advise you to pull out your wisdom teeth before it affects the rest of your mouth. The last set of permanent teeth that emerge in your mouth are your wisdom teeth, this typically occurs between the ages of 17 and 25. Some people do not have them at all or have no difficulties with them, but the majority of the time, they grow in such a way that your dentist must extract them. We have selected the greatest health information to help you prepare for a wisdom teeth removal treatment.

An impacted wisdom tooth might be dangerous to one’s health. It can cause other teeth to be damaged, as well as dry sockets, gum disease, and even cysts or benign tumors.

Continue reading if your dentist has advised you to get your wisdom teeth extracted. We’ll go over exactly what to expect beforehand, throughout, and after the extractions.

Reasons for Wisdom Tooth Removal

Your dentist may advise you to get your wisdom tooth removed for a variety of reasons. Wisdom teeth can become impacted, which can signify a variety of things, including when the wisdom teeth grow:

• towards another tooth
• towards the back of the mouth
• at a correct angle within the jaw bone
• straight but caught in your jaw

Your mouth may be too small to accept another set of molars, or the wisdom teeth may become rotting or unhealthy due to difficulty reaching them with toothbrushes and dental floss. They can also produce cysts, difficulties with other dental treatments, and severe discomfort.

Some dentists may not agree, but there are some grounds for wisdom teeth removal that are not actively creating problems, especially when they may be seen early on using x-rays. Surgery performed on children is far less likely to result in complications than surgery performed on adults. Having your wisdom teeth removed, however, may result in issues like an infection, dry socket, or damage to surrounding teeth, even though this occurs infrequently. 

Preparing for Surgery

Although your dentist can remove wisdom teeth in their office, severely compromised wisdom teeth or difficult operations may need the expertise of an oral surgeon. Both your dentist and you will discuss your medical history while arranging the tooth extraction procedure. Ask how many teeth will need to be extracted, how long the process will take if your other teeth have been damaged, and if any other dental treatments will be required. Sedation options will also be discussed with your dentist to make your procedure more comfortable.

You should also prep for the recovery period that will follow your surgery. Schedule time off from work or school, make necessary arrangements for proper care of your children and/or pets, and make arrangements for someone to give you a ride home if necessary following anesthesia. You will also be required to only eat soft foods that do not require chewing for the first 24 hours following surgery, followed by semisoft foods for the remainder of your rehabilitation.

Types of Anesthesia

Your surgeon will speak with you to determine the type of anesthetic to use based on the difficulty of the wisdom tooth surgery, your degree of comfort with the process, and other variables. These are some examples:

• Local anesthesia is provided via injection at the site of your wisdom tooth after the dentist has applied a numbing chemical to the gums. During the extractions, you will be awake and will sense movement and pressure, but no discomfort.
• Sedation Anesthetic: provided in addition to local anesthesia through an IV line in your arm. You will become fatigued and may fall asleep during the procedure. You will have limited memory of the surgery and will not feel any discomfort.
• General anesthesia can be injected into your veins, inhaled through a mask, or both. You will be entirely asleep during your wisdom teeth extraction, and a local anesthetic will be injected into your gums to reduce pain symptoms.

Wisdom Teeth Removal

After delivering the anesthetic, your dentist or surgeon will begin the treatment. First, they will make an incision in your gum line to reveal the wisdom tooth and surrounding bone. To gain greater access to your tooth’s roots, they may need to remove parts of your jaw bone. Similarly, they may decide to divide the wisdom tooth into fragments if extracting your impacted wisdom teeth in parts will be safer than extracting all of them at once.

Recovery Time

You will be allowed to go home like normal unless your response to the topical anesthetic makes you sleepy and unresponsive. Because you will be sedated or under general anesthesia, you will need to plan for somebody to drive you home. You should expect some discomfort and swell around the wisdom teeth extraction site. Prescription pain relievers, over-the-counter pain relievers, or placing a cold compress on your face can help. Your dentist or oral surgeon will most likely use stitches that dissolve on their own after a few weeks, however, you can make an appointment to meet with your dentist to see if your stitches must be removed manually. If you have a fever, severe bleeding, difficulty swallowing or breathing, or if you have blood or pus in your mouth, contact your dentist very once.

Expect some blood to ooze from your incision site on the first day following removal, so be careful when replacing the gauze as advised by your doctor and prevent excessive spitting, which could release a blood clot. The suction of drinking through a straw, hard exercise, or being overly rough when brushing your gums and teeth near the tooth socket could dislodge the blood clot. To carefully cleanse your mouth, use salt water and let the water flow out rather than spitting.

Eat soft foods like applesauce for the first 24 hours, and semisoft foods if you can chew with minimal pain for the next few days. You should also avoid hard, crunchy, or chewy foods since they might irritate your gum tissue or become lodged, resulting in gum disease. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, but avoid alcohol, caffeinated, carbonated, or hot beverages for at least 24 hours after surgery.

Contact Calabasas Smiles a dentist in Agoura Hills if you need your affected wisdom teeth extracted or simply want more information. You can arrange a meeting with our experienced dentists by using our website or calling us.