The reason for wisdom tooth extraction is to prevent these teeth from damaging your healthy teeth. In most cases, wisdom teeth tend to erupt in a perpendicular manner to teeth adjacent to them (second molars). When your wisdom teeth come in perpendicularly, they throw off your bite, form an area that traps food particles, decays both teeth, and can cause an extremely painful infection. Therefore, if you resort to skipping your wisdom teeth removal surgery today, you are more likely to experience problems and complications in the future.
Who should perform the procedure (wisdom tooth extraction)?
I recommend a specialist or a highly experienced family dentist. The specialists have the right experience and in the event that the unexpected comes up while performing the surgical procedure, it will be no surprise to them. Even so, many general dentistry practitioners perform wisdom teeth extraction surgeries routinely and are good at it. Just be sure that you are dealing with a family dentist who can handle this type of surgery. Note that wisdom teeth removal has a high rate of complications if it’s not handled by an expert.
The dentists should ideally use dental drills specifically meant for performing oral surgeries. The same dental drills used for crowns and fillings by general dentists should never be used. Therefore, you should confirm whether your dentist is using a pneumatic or electric hand piece designed for the purpose of oral surgeries.
Wisdom Teeth Extraction: How to Prepare
Note that wisdom tooth extraction is an outpatient procedure, which means that patients go home after completion of the surgery on the same day. Ask your oral surgeon or general dentist the following questions beforehand:
- Will you do a dental bone graft?
If you are 25 years or older, then dental practitioners highly recommend a bone graft procedure. When a wisdom tooth is removed, the adjacent tooth has some level of bone, which it is accustomed to. However, when you remove the neighboring tooth, some shrinkage occurs. Therefore, when bone shrinks, the adjacent tooth becomes sensitive to cold drinks and sugar months following the surgery. Thankfully, bone graft procedures prevent this. Normally, individuals below 25 years do not need this. Even so, you should not hesitate to ask your family dentist about it.
- Should I get someone to drive me back home?
This largely depends on the specific type of dental anesthesia used by your dentist. In most cases, you need to plan ahead and have someone who will drive you back home.
iii. Do I need to fast prior to undergoing wisdom tooth extraction surgery? And if yes, when should I begin?
For the purposes of the local anesthesia, any family dentist will recommend that you eat a light meal several hours before undergoing the procedure, as this helps to keep up your blood sugar levels. However, for any other anesthesia, it would be best to have an empty stomach.
With proper, effective aftercare, it takes just two weeks to recover from a wisdom tooth extraction surgery. Sometimes, patients may develop infections that will require antibiotics. Remember, it is highly unlikely that you will ever experience any complications following your wisdom teeth removal procedure if you apply proper aftercare recommended by your family dentist.
