You might be the right candidate for a wisdom tooth extraction if your wisdom tooth has grown crooked, sideways, or is misaligned. A misaligned wisdom tooth can cause immense pain, swelling, and can push other teeth into misalignment.
You’ve heard your doctor warn you how any medical procedure carries a risk of complications with it. The same goes for dental surgeries. Though it’s imperative to go through with dental surgery, it’s also important to be informed of the risks beforehand so you can stay prepared.
Here are 6 Wisdom Teeth Removal Complications:
1. Pain and Swelling
Though pain and swelling are expected after a wisdom tooth is removed, if your pain is extremely excruciating or lasts beyond a week, then it is time to see your doctor.
2. Dry Socket
Alveolar osteitis or dry socket develops after wisdom tooth removal when a blood clot can get prematurely dislodged from your tooth socket. This can lead to infection and pain that can radiate to your ear — this is a common postoperative complication. A dry socket can also cause immense pain and pus near the wisdom tooth area, which in turn might lead to more dangerous diseases.
3. Trismus/Limited Mouth Opening
The aftermath of a wisdom tooth extraction is generally accompanied by a limited ability to open your mouth — this condition is known as trismus. Patients who have an impacted wisdom tooth are more likely to experience this condition. Your dentist will generally prescribe muscle relaxants to help you with trismus after your wisdom tooth extraction surgery.
4. Postoperative Surgical Site Infection
A post-operative surgical site infection might be one of the reasons for the pain and swelling. This too is taken care of with a post-operative prescription of antibiotics that will keep bacteria at bay till your jaw heals back.
5. Bleeding and Hemorrhage
A study conducted by the American Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery stated that more than one-fourth of the patients who underwent wisdom tooth extraction experienced excessive bleeding. This can be combated by taking proper post-operative precautions as recommended by your dentist.
6. Lip Numbness
This is like to occur when you have a wisdom tooth extraction in your lower impacted wisdom tooth. The wisdom tooth in your lower jaw is closer to the sensory nerves that control your lip, chin, and tongue. Since these sensory nerves are responsible for giving you feeling in your lip, chin, and tongue, damage to these nerves during surgery will mean that you will experience numbness in your lip and chin.
However, this sort of nerve injury will only cause sensation problems, and won’t cause any weakness in your tongue and mouth. It goes away within a few days after the surgery.
The wisdom teeth removal complications will depend on your age, overall health, medication, and most importantly, your oral hygiene habits, and of course, choosing the right dentist. We make sure your wisdom tooth removal is as pain-free as it can be at Coral Dental Care. Our experienced team will patiently listen and explain to you any questions you have before and after your surgery.
Dr. Anu Isaac, DMD, runs a successful dental practice in Salem, MA. Dr. Isaac strives for quality on a daily basis and this commitment to quality is reflected in her constant pursuit of advanced training. Her firm belief that even experts need to stay updated about what’s new in the dental field, enables her to provide every patient with optimal oral care. As the founder of Coral Dental Care, she is dedicated to creating healthy, beautiful smiles for her patients and also to educating dental and non-dental community with her engaging articles on all things related to oral health,recent dental innovations, and latest treatment modalities.