Is Wisdom Tooth Removal Major Surgery?

Wisdom tooth removal is a straightforward oral surgical process. It is often recommended as a preventive measure to safeguard your remaining teeth from problems later and preserve your oral health. Recovery from wisdom tooth removal is generally quick, and most return to regular activities within a few days.

What Is Wisdom Tooth Extraction?

The removal of your third molars, appearing between 17 and 25 and called the wisdom teeth, is the wisdom tooth extraction process. These are the last four permanent teeth emerging in the jaw at the back of your mouth in the upper and lower jaws. Many people have all four wisdom teeth. However, approximately 5 to 37 percent of people have merely some or none.

How to Determine Whether You Need Your Wisdom Teeth Removed?

Occasionally all wisdom teeth emerge naturally without problems. Unfortunately, wisdom teeth often grow at angles or remain impacted fully or partially in the jawbone or beneath the gum tissue. The impaction causes a host of problems. The Newmarket, ON, nearby dental office recommends wisdom tooth removal if:

• You experience pain near the posterior region of your mouth.
• You have food and debris trapped around the third molars.
• You develop periodontal disease around the back teeth.
• Tooth decay affects a partially erupted wisdom tooth.
• Your adjacent teeth or bone have sustained damage.
• You develop cysts around one or more third molars.

Many dentists recommend removing wisdom teeth as a preventive measure even if you don’t experience any symptoms. This is because the removal reduces your risk of problems later, including infection and tooth decay.

The Wisdom Teeth Removal Procedure

If you have fully erupted wisdom teeth in the back of your mouth, the dentist performs a non-surgical wisdom tooth extraction by administering local anesthesia and using elevators to loosen the tooth before removing it with forceps.

Unfortunately, if your wisdom teeth are impacted, you will require an intensive procedure for the removal under local anesthesia and sedation because impacted wisdom teeth require surgery for extraction.

After giving you the anesthetics, the dentist makes incisions in your gums to expose the impacted third molar when performing wisdom tooth extraction in Bradford. The dentist must remove any bone covering the tooth to gain adequate access. After the wisdom tooth is visible, the dentist carefully loosens and lifts it from its socket, cleans the area and sutures it. The sutures will dissolve in a few days.

Should You Go to Work After Wisdom Tooth Removal?

After undergoing wisdom tooth removal to extract one or more third molars in an intensive procedure, you receive recommendations from the dentist to rest after returning home after you recover from the anesthesia. The anesthesia leaves you tired and incapable of moving around without help. In addition, wisdom tooth removal surgery can cause bleeding for about 24 hours, making it essential to rest after the process. Furthermore, you begin experiencing pain from the surgery about six hours after the procedure and receive prescriptions for painkillers to alleviate the discomfort. Therefore it helps if you stay away from work or school for at least 48 to 72 hours after wisdom tooth removal to ensure you don’t aggravate bleeding by impacting the blood clot forming in the tooth socket.

Besides avoiding work, you must also refrain from exercising or trying to lift heavy objects because it can increase bleeding in the mouth to dislodge the blood clot and result in a dry socket, a painful condition needing additional visits to the dental clinic for sedative dressings.

Should You Brush Your Teeth After Wisdom Tooth Extraction?

Brushing and cleaning your teeth is fundamental to your dental hygiene and is better not avoided even after undergoing an involved process like wisdom tooth extraction. However, you must exercise caution when brushing near the surgical site to ensure you don’t dislodge the blood clot to require additional treatments.

You can use saltwater rinses to clean your mouth instead of OTC mouthwash brands containing alcohol harmful to your overall health after wisdom tooth extraction. You must also refrain from drinking alcohol or smoking because they can delay your recovery and cause additional complications by interacting with the medications you receive to alleviate pain.

Wisdom tooth extraction requiring surgery is considered an involved process needing an hour or less for the removal. However, the surgery is intensive and causes plenty of pain after extracting the tooth. Therefore you must follow your dentist’s instructions to the letter to ensure you don’t complicate your recovery or delay it beyond the anticipated seven to ten days.

Holland River Dental performs many wisdom tooth extraction procedures on adults and teenagers using minimally invasive techniques. If you must have a wisdom tooth removed, consult them for the process to have the problematic tooth extracted and prevent complications in your mouth.