At The Gentle Dentist we provide all services in general, implant, cosmetic, and sedation dentistry.  Wisdom teeth or third molars usually need to be removed if there is not enough room in the mouth for them to erupt.

There are a couple of necessary steps needed to determine if wisdom teeth need to be extracted or if there is a possibility there will be enough room in the mouth for them to erupt and be functional teeth.

• A panorex x-ray will show the entire jaw including the sinuses, nerve location, jaw joint and teeth position.  This is an important xray used to see the “big picture” where these vital structures are and it exposes the shape of the roots of wisdom teeth.
• A dental exam by Dr. Antolak is needed to see how much room is in the actual oral cavity.

If it is determined that the wisdom teeth need to be removed then there are options on how the patient is treated. Either local anesthetic is used alone or is used with Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) or conscious sedation.  In this video our patient had only local anesthetic used which allowed him to function normally after the procedure.  Only pressure is felt during the procedure but no sharp or dull pain is felt. As you can see there is great attention to detail in reference to the patient’s level of comfort by The Gentle Dentist and team.

During the procedure Dr. Antolak needed to gain access to the teeth and this required some removal of bone that was lying over the impacted teeth.  After the tooth is removed a silk suture is used to close up the wound and to allow for natural healing.  Over a 4-6 month period of time bone will fill in where the teeth were removed.

The ideal time to have wisdom teeth removed is between 17-25 years old because the roots of the lower wisdom teeth aren’t completely formed. As the root tips form they can wrap around the nerve and the risk of post operative numbness is more likely.  In this video it is pointed out where the impacted teeth are located and their proximity to the nerve.

The summer is the best time to have these removed because those in this age group are out of school and they have ample time to recover.

Potential risks in any wisdom teeth removal include numbness, sinus problems.  These are all due to the closeness of the roots to these structures.  Dry socket which is the loss of the blood clot is also possible.  These can be painful but don’t happen on a regular basis.  If a dry socket does develop we have techniques to aide in pain relief.  Smoking is absolutely the most common reason why the dry sockets develop and complications take place.  Our suggestion is to stop smoking for at least a couple of days before surgery and remain off of them for at least 7 days after.  If that is the case why not just quit completely?… is usually what I say.

In this video that patient’s mother is filming the procedure and she was interested in recording the procedure so others can see and experience what it is like to have their wisdom teeth removed.   The entire procedure took a little over an hour to perform.

If you have questions about wisdom teeth or want an evaluation please call our office at (586)247-3500 or email us at info@Thegentledentist.com