Healthy Living: The pains of wisdom teeth and their removal

This week’s edition of Healthy Living looks at the wisdom teeth. It appears anytime past the age of fifteen and how it positions itself in your mouth, can make the difference.

Marleni Cuellar, Reporting

The wisdom teeth are the third set of molars in the mouth. It is also a common source of discomfort for most people. To understand a bit more as to why these molars can be such a pain we visited Dental surgeon, Dr. Annie Sinai to find out more.

Dr. Ann Marie Sinai, Dental Surgeon

“It’s called the wisdom tooth because older people are considered wiser and the third molar is the last molar to erupt in the mouth hence the oldest tooth and that’s why it is called the wisdom tooth.”

These set of molars normally erupt between the ages of sixteen to twenty-five although it is possible to have them come out at an earlier or later age.

Dr. Ann Marie Sinai

Dr. Ann Marie Sinai

“Most often they pose a lot of problems coming out. That is because of the limit in space. Back in the day, the jaw was much bigger because the diet was much stiffer, much rougher. So the bigger jaw could accommodate three molars. Now our diets are much softer and so the jaw is much smaller and could no longer accommodate a third molar. So when it’s coming out, normally its impacted meaning coming in sideways. It normally comes out in different directions or has a flap of gum at the back where you would have an accumulation of food along with the floor bacteria in the mouth can lead to infections, chewing of the cheek, misalignment of the teeth. Also it can cause cavities in the second molar because remember it’s a very difficult area to clean the cheek is in the way, the gum in the back is in the way and cleaning is most often ineffective flossing and brushing.”

There are four different classifications that describe how the wisdom teeth may grow. Each has varying degrees of difficulty when being removed.

Dr. Ann Marie Sinai

“There are four classifications, basically according to their position, there is the mesio-angular position which means that it’s leaning towards the second molar. There is a disto angular impaction leading away from the second molar. Vertical impaction which is coming straight upward but still impacted and the horizontal impaction which is straight, lying down, ninety degrees angle heading toward the second molar, the roots of the molar. The most common impaction is the mesio angular impaction leading toward the second molars, which is easiest to extract in the lower jaw but the most difficult to extract in the upper jaw. The disto angular impaction is the most difficult to extract in the lower jaw and the easiest to extract from the upper jaw. If the tooth has a vertical eruption and it’s completely free of the gum then it can be a regular extraction, a non surgical procedure, or if these a partially covered or completely covered by the gum then it is definitely a surgical procedure.”

If the jaw has enough space for the third set of molars and they erupt without posing a problem that most likely it is not necessary to remove them.  But for those who aren’t so lucky, the removal is either by extraction or a surgical procedure. The average cost of a surgical procedure is between two hundred and seventy-five to five hundred Belize dollars but if left untreated they can develop severe infections.

Dr. Ann Marie Sinai

“Most people who feel the pain they want the extraction immediately. They want the tooth to be extracted at that very moment. But the fact that they are in pain normally means that they are infected, that the tooth is infected so they would need antibiotic treatment before the extraction. So they get the antibiotics and the extraction is scheduled for another day. People are really eager to get it out and get rid of the pain. So most of them don’t shy away from the extractions if they had any apprehensions about it.”

The most interesting fact is that the extra set of molars and the problems associated with it may eventually become passé’.

Dr. Ann Marie Sinai

“Part of the evolution process is that now we actually take panoramic X-rays of children and some of them have none. They weren’t born with the formation of thirty-two teeth they only have the twenty-eight. Some would only have two and never had the other two extracted. They weren’t formed at all.”