Is it better to extract wisdom teeth or not?

When wisdom teeth grow, it is easy to have swollen and painful gums, so should they be removed at this point? Many people are confused about whether wisdom teeth should be removed. It depends on the situation. If the wisdom teeth grow crooked and are extremely painful, you can consider removing them.

1. If the wisdom tooth cannot grow out completely naturally, its crown will be partially covered by the gums, forming a pericoronal pocket. The pericoronal pockets are prone to accumulate food residues and bacteria, which can easily lead to pericoronitis of wisdom teeth. Repeated attacks of pericoronitis will cause patients to experience symptoms such as toothache, limited mouth opening, and difficulty eating.

2. If the wisdom tooth grows crooked, there will be an angle between it and the adjacent teeth, which makes it easy for food to get stuck. Over time, the wisdom tooth and the adjacent teeth are prone to tooth decay and even pulpitis.

3. If the position and direction of wisdom tooth growth are abnormal, it will affect the bite between the upper and lower teeth.

4. Some people's wisdom teeth do not emerge, are completely isolated from the outside world, have no gingival blind pockets, and will not have any impact on the adjacent permanent teeth. Such wisdom teeth do not need to be extracted because there is no reason to extract them. In addition, this type of wisdom tooth is buried in the gums, so it takes a lot of effort to extract it, which is relatively difficult.

5. If your wisdom tooth has already grown out and its growth shape is normal like that of normal permanent teeth, but this wisdom tooth has severely damaged the adjacent permanent teeth, and the damaged permanent teeth need root canal treatment to be retained, then after consulting a professional dentist, you can choose to extract the teeth damaged by the wisdom teeth and leave the wisdom teeth with normal shape to replace them.

6. If the wisdom tooth is impacted and cannot grow out completely, but the shape is normal, and the molars or permanent teeth in front of the wisdom tooth are congenitally missing, and only the deciduous teeth are left, then at this time, after consulting a professional dentist, you can keep the wisdom tooth, but you must extract the retained deciduous teeth, and then do orthodontic treatment to pull the teeth behind to fill the gap.