When summer comes around, and our high school and college students are on break, I always get a lot of questions about wisdom teeth and whether or not they should be extracted/”come out.” Each patient/case should be looked at on an individual basis, though in general, I am conservative on their removal. Factors that need to be looked at include:
- The age and health of the patient
- Room in the arch
- The angle of eruption – or non-eruption – on teeth that are impacted (i.e. unable to come in due to being blocked by adjacent teeth)
- The position of the mandibular nerve (that runs below and/or adjacent to the wisdom tooth)
- The bone and tissue surrounding the tooth
If you have any questions, or would like yourself or your student to be evaluated, please call our office at 1-440-461-1003 or contact us here and let us know.
