Experience Stress-Free Wisdom Teeth Removal in Rock Hill, SC

You need a wisdom tooth removal if you experience the following:

• Jaw pain or tooth pain in the back of the mouth
• Swelling, redness, or infection around the gums
• Crowding or shifting of the neighboring teeth
• An impacted wisdom tooth that is trapped under the gum or jawbone.

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1. Comprehensive Assessment: We start with a thorough exam to ensure the best outcome. Using advanced panoramic X-rays or 3D CBCT scans to see the wisdom tooth’s exact position, root shape, and proximity to nerves.
2. Personalized Treatment Plan: Based on your imaging, we will decide whether it's a simple extraction (if the tooth has fully erupted) or a surgical extraction (for impacted teeth).
3. Choosing Your Comfort: We want you to feel completely relaxed during the process and therefore offer a choice of local anesthesia, nitrous oxide, or deeper IV sedation.
4. The Surgical Procedure: Once you are totally comfortable, we numb the area using a local anesthetic injection. For impacted teeth, a small incision in the gum tissue is made, the pulp is removed, thoroughly cleaned, and sealed.
5. Quick and Safe: The entire procedure, even when removing all four wisdom teeth, typically takes only 30 to 60 minutes.
6. Healing: You will likely be able to resume your normal daily activities within 3 to 5 days.

After your wisdom teeth removal, try to stick to soft, easy-to-eat foods like yogurt, mashed potatoes, applesauce, and smoothies for the first few days. It's important to stay hydrated and steer clear of using straws, smoking, or consuming crunchy, spicy, or hot foods, as these can irritate the healing site and increase the risk of dry socket.

Most patients recover within a few days to a week. Common side effects include mild swelling, soreness, and limited jaw movement. We recommend resting, eating soft foods, using ice packs, and taking pain medications to help with healing. Contact your dentist if you experience increasing pain, swelling, or signs of infection.

Here are some of the consequences of leaving impacted wisdom teeth untreated:

• Impaction: If a wisdom tooth gets stuck in your jawbone or gum tissue, it can't fully erupt, leading to pain and possible infection.
• Crowding and Misalignment: As they try to push through, wisdom teeth can crowd your existing teeth, undoing previous orthodontic work and causing misalignment issues with your bite.
• Infection (Pericoronitis): When a tooth is only partially erupted, it creates a small flap of gum tissue where bacteria can easily get trapped, leading to painful and severe gum infections.
• Tooth Decay: Being located in the back makes wisdom teeth difficult to clean. This can lead to trapped food and bacteria, causing cavities not just on the wisdom tooth but potentially on your neighboring molars as well.
• Cysts and Tumors: In rare cases, fluid-filled sacs (cysts) can form around an impacted tooth, which can destroy surrounding jawbone tissue and even damage nerves.
• Damage to Neighboring Teeth: Constant pressure from a growing wisdom tooth can physically damage the roots of the adjacent molars, potentially causing bone loss.