I am 23 years old and have two impacted wisdom teeth. One of them bothers me a little so I went to see a dentist. He told me that I have three options. First, leave them and only do something if it gets infected. Second, get the teeth extracted. This is a risk because one of them goes past a nerve. Third, get rid of the tooth but leave the root, which is safer for the nerve. I’m tempted to just leave this, but thought I should get a second opinion.
Cathey
Dear Cathey,
While I can understand your desire just to leave the teeth as they are, there is a risk the older you get. At your age it is much easier to remove impacted wisdom teeth. By the time you are thirty years of age, the risk of complications double. Those risks will double again every few years.
It is only a matter of time before these impacted teeth become a problem. My suggestion is that you get them removed now. This way you are dealing with a planned procedure and not a dental emergency. I do like the option that your dentist suggested about leaving the tooth root. However, I do not recommend you leave the entire root. Just leave the root tip. When there is just the tip left, there is less of a risk that you will develop an infection.
Don’t go through any pain for this. While it is a simple procedure, I recommend that you see a sedation dentist to have it done. This will give you an anxiety-free and pain-free appointment.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins.