Do I Need to Remove All My Wisdom Teeth?

I’ve been having trouble with my wisdom teeth.  I have all four wisdom teeth. One of them is normal, but the other three are impacted.  One of the top wisdom teeth is infected and will have to come out. I was thinking given my age (I’m 31), I might do better to have all of them removed.  The oral surgeon gave me some options and I’m not sure which to choose because he also mentioned that one of the bottom teeth is past a nerve and that there was a risk for nerve damage.  I can leave the tooth with the nerve proximity until it starts to bother me; pull it and take the risk; or remove the visible tooth part and leave the root. But, if it gets infected he will have to go back in there and remove the part we left.  While I was leaning toward just leaving that one, I’m worried about my age. I’ve been told you don’t want to remove wisdom teeth after a certain age. What do you think? I don’t want nerve damage.

Dina

Dear Dina,

You’ve actually hit upon the major factor in your decision. The older you get, the greater the risk of complications from wisdom tooth extraction. Your bone gets harder and stiffer as you age and the roots thicken. I am puzzled why your dentist didn’t have you remove at least the impacted teeth when you were younger. The ideal time is upper teens to early twenties. Impacted wisdom teeth do eventually become a problem. Because of that, I’m going to suggest you don’t leave it in place, otherwise you risk a dental emergency when it becomes a problem. It’s best to deal with this now before you get to the age where the complications can becomes serious. That leaves you with whether you take out the entire tooth or just a part of it.

Leaving the root is not a horrible idea, but I wouldn’t leave the entire root. You’re safer only leaving the root tip. If the piece of root is small, the body is more likely to not stress over it. Honestly, though,  the surgeon should probably make that decision during the surgery. Picking ahead of time may not work out. Sometimes things in a surgery go more smoothly than expected. Other times it has unexpected challenges. As for the nerve damage, that he’s warned you about, dentists have to warn you about all possibilities. It is a possibility, but a low one.

On the upside, unlike the rest of your teeth, wisdom teeth do not have to be replaced.

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