Impacted teeth are teeth that do not emerge above the gum line when they are supposed to. If the tooth becomes only partially visible, it is still considered impacted. The most common teeth to become impacted are the third molars or wisdom teeth. It can occur because a tooth has no room to fit and the jaw may be considered too small to fit the tooth. Teeth that are partially impacted often come in twisted, displaced or tilted, affecting the bite. Impacted teeth can be a problem because they push on adjacent teeth, causing the teeth to crowd together or twist themselves.
What can be a reason for impacted teeth?
The main causes of impacted teeth involve having a too small jaw that doesn’t fit all the teeth. The rest of the teeth can be slightly out of place or too large, causing the tooth beneath them to become impacted. If the impacted tooth is directly under a regular tooth, it can remain impacted or can push up, trying to displace the adult tooth above it.
What symptoms to look for?
In some cases, the impacted tooth causes no symptoms and no real problems occur because of it. In others:
- Bad breath can be a complication as can difficulty opening the mouth.
- You can have pain, tenderness or soreness of the gingiva or of the bones of the jaw itself.
- Headaches can result from impacted teeth.
- You can occasionally get redness or swelling in the area of the impacted teeth and swollen lymph nodes of the neck.
- There can be a bad taste in your mouth when biting down on the impacted area and often you’ll see a visible gap in the mouth where the impacted tooth was supposed to be.
Complications
Impacted wisdom teeth can yield several complications.
- There can be damage to nearby teeth that have already erupted. This is especially true with wisdom teeth.
- There can be cysts within the jaw bone that can fill with fluid and damage nearby jawbone, teeth and nerves.
- A noncancerous tumor can show up in the area of an impacted tooth.
- In partially impacted teeth, decay is more likely. Such teeth are difficult to clean properly and food or bacteria get trapped within the twisted tooth, causing increased decay.
Because they are difficult to clean, impacted teeth that have partially erupted are prone to periodontal disease, including periodontitis. A condition known as periocoronitis can occur near impacted or partially impacted teeth.
Is prevention an option?
The best way to prevent impacted teeth problems such as with wisdom teeth is to remove the teeth before they do damage to nearby teeth. In some cases, dental appliances can be used to separate the teeth further so that the impacted tooth can come in. This takes time and it may or may not be successful. Removal of partially erupted impacted teeth may prevent periodontitis and periocoronitis.
Treatment option of impacted teeth
Painful impacted teeth need to be extracted. You need to talk to your doctor about whether or not you have risk factors for a surgical treatment. Asymptomatic impacted teeth may need to be removed before they become symptomatic. Not everyone feels this way, however, and some dental professionals advocate doing nothing until symptoms occur. An asymptomatic tooth, on the other hand, may still harbor disease and this might harm the rest of the mouth if not removed.
Surgical extraction involves making an incision in the gums and removing tooth and bone in the socket. The socket is packed with gauze until it heals. Conditions known as dry socket, socket infection or sinus damage can occur.