Sore wisdom teeth on bottom jaw.

Q:

Received via email Thursday January 28th, 2010 from Cassidy
I have had my wisdom teeth on my bottom jaw in for a few years. A few times in the last few years they have become really sore at times, not so much the tooth itself but the gum around them. I have found it really sore to chew or bite when it gets sore like this and I have found that the only thing that gets ride of the pain is using anbeseol and cleaning the area really well with an electric toothbrush and listerine. Why does this come and go like this and how can I prevent it in the future?

A:

Thank you for your question Cassidy. What it sounds like is your are experiencing swelling in the gum(s) around your wisdom tooth. This swelling can be caused by food/bacteria becoming caught underneath the gum and thus a localized gum infection starts. If a flap of tissue is remaining around the wisdom tooth (this can be from incomplete eruption of the tooth or just an excess of gum tissue remaining). If an operculum (flap of tissue) is present then it can be harder for you to keep the area clean as food/bacteria can get stuck underneath the flap. If this happened continuously I would either recommend a operculectomy (which is a simple removal of the extra flap of tissue) or in the case where the wisdom tooth was not aligned or erupted properly, possibly removal of the tooth would be a better solution.

Operculumectoy can be done by a scalpel (knife) or laser. In our office, the choice hands down is using the laser. With the laser you get minimal bleeding and the laser initiates healing at 4x the normal rate. As well usually we can use a topical gel (put on with a dental q-tip) for freezing instead of a injection or needle. Typically the day of you would shy away from acidic foods, but by the next day you are able to eat normally again.

I believe that wisdom teeth that can be cleaned properly and maintained without repeated cavity formation can be left in the mouth and thus no need for extraction. But in order to assess that it needs to be on a person by person basis. Wisdom teeth once served a purpose for cavemen as they needed to chew their coarse and unmodified foods much more than we do these days with processed foods. The wisdom teeth served as an extra set of teeth assisted them with this. These days we see some children not forming some or all of their wisdom teeth, society has evolved and the need for wisdom teeth has a well.

Great question, thank you!