The wisdom teeth need to get out: what to do if they step out of line?

Quite often, they are the source of trouble, even before you can see them: the wisdom teeth. Medically referred to as the “third molars”, they are presumably remnants from prehistory when the human jaw used to be bigger and wider. The wisdom teeth of most people are embedded in the jaw but do not always erupt. With a simple x-ray, we can find out whether your wisdom teeth can become potential troublemakers.

In the following cases it would be better to have your wisdom teeth extracted:

• They are impacted and affect other teeth.
• They are inflamed and hurt.
• Cysts develop around the wisdom tooth.
• Dental decay damages the wisdom tooth.
• You can’t bite very well anymore because the erupting tooth annoys you.

The experienced oral surgeon, Dr. med. dent. Seiter, will remove the troublemaker fast, secure and almost pain-free.

The wisdom teeth are embedded deeply in the jaw bone and are likely to have long roots. That is the reason why your dentist refers you to our oral surgery clinic. The operation is part of our daily routine. You are concerned about the pain? You can rely on us. We know our trade and remove most wisdom teeth in a very short time:

• The area is anaesthetised locally. If we have to extract several wisdom teeth, you can ask for a general anaesthesia.
• We extract the teeth and suture the wound.
• The wounds may hurt a little bit after the operation. We supply painkillers and all information about the dos and dont’s after the surgical intervention.

What do you need to observe after the operation?

Please do not eat anything during the first hours after the operation:

• We explain to you when you can start eating liquid and mushy foods.
• Depending on how many teeth we have to extract, you can eat normally after 1 – 2 days.
• Avoid hot, spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol for one day after the treatment.

Ten days later, we or your treating dentist examine whether the wound is healing well and take the stitches out. If everything is fine, you can return to your normal day-to-day routine.

Our wisdom teeth are remnants of our ancestors. The foods they ate in the stone age were harder and more chewy to bite. The additional molars were a valuable tool to break up raw food.

As time went on, our jaw developed further. Today we prepare our steaks to be bite-sized. Our jaws are smaller and the additional teeth do not find enough space in many people’s mouths.

Not very wise: where does the name of the teeth come from?

Usually, the wisdom teeth erupt before we are 20 years old. For some people, this might even happen later, when they are “old and wise”. That’s how the name evolved. Dentist sometimes refer to wisdom teeth as “third molar”. They just do some counting:

• Upper and lower jar are divided into two halves, altogether 4 quadrants.
• Adults have 28 teeth and 2 molars per quadrant unless the wisdom teeth finally erupt.
• The third molar can erupt in one or in all quadrants.