If You Don't Remove Impacted Teeth
By impacted tooth, we mean a tooth that fails to appear and place itself in the correct location, remaining hidden inside the bone and gum, under the so-called gum depression. The dental elements most affected by this pathology are the wisdom teeth, followed by the upper canines. Less frequently, however, there is a failure to erupt the lower canines and upper incisors, followed by all the other teeth in the arch.
The presence of a bad dental impaction that is left untreated can lead, in addition to obvious aesthetic defects, to unpleasant consequences such as headaches, toothaches, inflammation, gingivitis, or oral cavity infections and can be classified into four types:
- Complete: when the tooth is completely submerged by the maxillary or mandibular bone and completely invisible from the outside;
Partial or incomplete: the tooth is partially visible, or in any case partially protruded from the bone; - Permanent: it concerns those teeth that will remain impacted for life, without ever completing their eruption process;
- Temporary: the dental element, despite being late with respect to the physiologically expected teething times, will have the possibility of completing its journey and ticking, even if in adulthood.
Is dental impaction always a problem?
There is no precise rule: sometimes, a tooth can remain below the level of the bone and the gum without giving particular complications.
In all other cases, it is necessary to resort to the most appropriate dental treatment.
Impacted tooth: how we can intervene
Let's come to the possible solutions for cases of dental impaction: how can we intervene? Depending on the characteristics of each specific case, the type of treatment of the impacted teeth changes, ranging from interventions with the jawbone to surgical extraction of the affected teeth.
It is up to the dentist to choose the most suitable therapeutic approach, carefully evaluating both the seriousness of the ailments reported by the patient and the possible consequences that the pathology, if not resolved, could bring over time. Here are some examples of things that can develop:
- The impacted tooth has never caused pain or discomfort, and, at the same time, it does not push on the other teeth, which appear well aligned and healthy: in this case, there is no need to intervene, but taking care to periodically check the situation;
- The included element is a wisdom tooth which does not cause problems, apart from a slight dental overcrowding: to solve a similar case, the installation of an orthodontic appliance, fixed or mobile, could be sufficient;
- The impacted (or semi-impacted) tooth is a wisdom tooth that causes pain (which generally occurs cyclically), gum infections and pericoronitis, chewing problems: with these symptoms, the only way forward will be wisdom tooth extraction;
- Dental impaction concerns an incisor or a permanent canine, two teeth of fundamental importance for the entire oral cavity: it is necessary to try to reposition the tooth in the correct location, resorting to the so-called surgical-orthodontic recovery. It is a surgical technique, which detaches the tissues and eliminates the bone covering the tooth, which is then anchored by means of special orthodontic attachments and subsequently brought into the right position.
Before deciding whether and how to intervene on an impacted tooth, it is necessary to carry out a radiographic examination of the dental arches (orthopantomography), in order to precisely identify the shape, size and position of the element concerned.
In conclusion, it is important to visit your dentist and to get a possible impacted tooth diagnosed and treated, if necessary. Otherwise, there could be serious implications for your oral and general health.