What are they?

Wisdom teeth don’t make you smarter, they are the last set of teeth that erupt and are considered your 3rd set of molars. In fact, in most of us, they are considered to be useless with no role to play at all.

When are they troublesome you ask?

Wisdom teeth either erupt fully, or even partially or they don’t erupt at all, and when they don’t they are considered to be impacted as we dentists call it. They can be vertically upright, standing tall, or completely sleeping flat horizontally, or they can be angulated in any direction.

They start to cause trouble by not standing in their position, and leaning towards the front tooth-your 2nd molar and causing food to trap between them. More food being stuck, more it becomes difficult for you to clean, and the next thing you know you have a big decay.

Sometimes when your wisdom tooth is trying to erupt it tears your gum to come out and when this happens you might experience pain and swelling.

A few patients also develop jaw stiffness, you can’t open your mouth too much, or even experience a headache. This is when you need to get the hint, to come to see us and get your wisdom tooth checked.

In some cases, when your wisdom tooth is slanting and leaning on the tooth in front of it, it tends to put pressure on the teeth thereby pushing it out of the row. Your good set of teeth that are neatly aligned in a row can get affected.

These are just a few of the warning signals you need to be aware of so when the problem arises you can seek help.

If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms set an appointment with us at Alux for your regular dental checkups that is the only way you can check if your wisdom teeth are erupting correctly or are going to be troublesome in the near future. Don’t wait till you are in pain or discomfort.