Mandibular impacted third molar removal

Impacted wisdom teeth don’t always cause symptoms. However, when an impacted wisdom tooth becomes infected, damages other teeth or causes other dental problems, you may experience some of these signs or symptoms:

• Pain
• Red or swollen gums
• Tender or bleeding gums
• Swelling around the jaw
• Bad breath
• An unpleasant taste in your mouth
• Headache

Causes

Wisdom teeth (third molars) become impacted because they don’t have enough room to come in (erupt) or grow normally. Wisdom teeth usually emerge sometime between the ages of 17 and 25. Some people have wisdom teeth that emerge without any problems and line up with the other teeth behind the second molars. In many cases, however, the mouth is too crowded for third molars to develop normally. These crowded third molars become trapped (impacted). An impacted wisdom tooth may partially emerge so that some of the crown is visible (partially impacted), or it may never break through the gums (fully impacted).

Whether partially or fully impacted, the tooth may:

• Grow at an angle toward the next tooth (second molar)
• Grow at an angle toward the back of the mouth
• Grow at a right angle to the other teeth, as if the wisdom tooth is “lying down” within the jawbone
• Grow straight up or down like other teeth but stay trapped within the jawbone