Is My Tooth Impacted?
Symptoms of impacted teeth
To understand if you have an impacted tooth, the best thing is to visit your trusted dentist. An impacted tooth remains "trapped" in the soft tissue of the gum beyond its normal eruption time. The cause of the impaction can be overcrowding of the teeth, often due to the fact that the arch is too narrow to accommodate the third molars (wisdom teeth), or the presence of extra teeth in your mouth. In these conditions, the teeth lean or shift as they grow. Impacted third molars are a very common problem that often cause no pain or other discomfort. However, it is advisable to prevent an impacted tooth from exerting pressure on the neighboring tooth, which transmits it as a chain to its neighbor, and so on, until producing a serious misalignment of the bite. Also, a partially emersed (semi-occluded) tooth) is more prone to accumulate food residues, plaque, and acids in the surrounding tissue, and consequently the risk of developing infections (cystic lesions) or inflammation of the gums (pericoronitis) increases, the symptoms of which are:
- Halitosis (chronic bad breath);
- Difficulty opening the mouth;
- Jaw pain or tenderness;
- Headache or jaw pain;
- Inflammation of the gums or lymph nodes in the neck;
- Bad taste in the mouth;
- Visible empty space in the area where the tooth did not come out;
- Occasionally, swollen lymph nodes in the neck;
- Occasionally, difficulty opening the mouth.
How to cure an impacted tooth
If the impacted tooth is not causing problems and if there is enough room for the adjacent teeth to grow properly, there may be no need for surgery. However, if the problem is severe, then proper treatment will need to be sought. Available options include extraction, orthodontics, or auto transplantation.
Dental care and treatments
The solution to the problem of impacted teeth does not follow a fixed protocol. The dentist will have to evaluate each situation individually and adopt a targeted therapy based on the severity of the disorder and its possible consequences. Some treatment options include:
- impacted tooth extraction,
- orthognathic surgery to move neighboring teeth and clear space,
- braces to move teeth and create space, and
- gum therapy to improve gum health.
In some cases, a combination treatment of these options may be needed. It is important that the treatment is performed by an experienced dentist or orthodontist.
Here are some possible examples of treatments:
- If the impacted tooth is not causing any problems and the teeth appear straight, no action is needed.
- If the impacted tooth is a wisdom tooth and causes symptoms such as pain, gum redness, difficulty cleaning and pain when chewing, extraction is the most suitable solution.
- If the impacted tooth is a wisdom tooth but causes no significant pain and only minor dental crowding, you can skip the extraction and opt for orthodontic treatment with fixed or removable appliances.
- If the impacted tooth is a canine or an incisor, the tooth can be transplanted into the correct position.