Understanding Impacted Teeth
Hi, this is Dr. Jason Dulac. I own and operate Dulac Dental of Springfield in Springfield, Virginia. Today I want to go over and answer some common questions about impacted teeth. I do take out impacted teeth at my office. If you have an impacted tooth or concerns about an impacted tooth, please give us a call.
What is an impacted tooth?
An impacted tooth is a tooth that tried to erupt but was prevented from erupting by another tooth. It's packed into the jaw and can't get out because of another tooth, jawbone, or some other structure. It didn't erupt fully. Most people, when they think about this, think about wisdom teeth. Sometimes the teeth are upright, and the wisdom tooth comes in at an angle, getting stuck on the other tooth, resulting in an impacted wisdom tooth. However, you can get impactions of other teeth as well.
What problems can occur with impacted teeth?
When you have an impacted tooth, if it's partially erupted and partially impacted, half of it's in and half of it's out, or if it's a normal adult tooth that should have erupted but didn't, you want to either get that out or allow it to erupt fully. It's when it gets half in and half out and food gets packed around it that it develops cavities, decay, gum disease, becomes painful, and food gets stuck, leading to infection. When it's totally in the bone, it's safe. When it's out and erupted properly, it's safe. It's when it's half in and half out that it causes problems. Again, most people think about a wisdom tooth, but it can really happen to any tooth.
How are impacted teeth diagnosed?
Two of the better X-rays to diagnose and look at impacted teeth are the panoramic X-ray, which goes around the head and shows the full teeth and jawbones, and the next level above that is a 3D X-ray. If the impacted tooth is close to a nerve, you'd want to look at the nerve relationship to the tooth before taking it out. I have both of these X-ray machines at my office. We use a panoramic X-ray and a 3D X-ray machine to look at the condition of the impacted tooth and figure out how to safely treat it.
What are the treatment options for impacted teeth?
Whether it's removing it or sometimes you can remove half of it and leave the deeper half that's closer to the nerve in the jaw. It sounds kind of weird, but it works very well. Up to the age of 25, you'll get full healing after an extraction. After the age of 25, we recommend placing surgical packing or bone graft material in the site where the tooth was removed. Most people get their wisdom teeth out in the 16 to 25-year-old range so that they can get full healing without incurring the additional cost or expense of the bone graft. That's why we often like to take teeth out in that age range.
Do you perform extractions at Dulac Dental of Springfield?
I perform a lot of third molar impactions or wisdom teeth extractions at my office. If you prefer to be sedated, I can refer you to an oral surgeon, but we have laughing gas at my office and can do mild sedation. If you want to go to sleep, I can arrange for you to see an oral surgeon. However, wisdom tooth impaction is not a difficult surgery to do. If you know what you're doing, it usually takes me 5 or 10 minutes. If you don't want to be put to sleep for the procedure, it's something I can easily do for you in my office. It is a procedure typically covered by dental insurance as it will cause problems if left untreated.
If you have any questions about wisdom teeth, wisdom teeth impactions, want to set up a consult, or are worried about this for a friend or family member, please give our office a call at (703) 451-4500, or schedule below! Our staff would love to talk with you.