Mental teeth. When do mental teeth need to be removed?

Mental teeth are the third molar teeth, medically also called the eighth. Most often they begin to erupt between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five. A person should have thirty-two teeth, but it is not uncommon for some people to have mental teeth never erupt. Often the jaw is too small, so there is not enough space for the mental teeth, they curl in the jaw, can push other teeth, change their location. Due to their irregular position in the jaw, they may never erupt. To determine this, an x-ray of the entire jaw is necessary. By the way, for a modern person, a healthy 28 teeth are quite enough.

The eruption of mental teeth can also be complicated because they have difficulty penetrating the gums. When the mental tooth is partially erupted, part of the gums cover it. Food and bacteria accumulate underneath, causing the gums to become red, swollen and painful. These are the first signs of an infection that has started. Gum disease and inflammation can start. If the mental teeth are crowded, they can damage the bone and the adjacent molar. The erupted mental teeth are usually irregularly shaped, may be rotated and are difficult to reach with a toothbrush, so bacteria are constantly present, even after brushing.

Often, the eruption of mental teeth leads to problems with overall oral health. If the mental teeth are neglected and untreated, the surrounding teeth are also damaged. Braces are extracted to prevent future problems or to remove existing inflammation. An oral surgeon can remove erupted and unerupted mental teeth.

When do mental teeth need to be removed?

  1. When mental teeth are non-functional, severely damaged by caries, pulpitis or periodontitis.
  2. When, due to the structure of the roots of the mental teeth or difficult access, quality endodontic treatment is not possible.
  3. When incompletely erupted mental teeth cause constantly recurring inflammations of soft tissues – pericoronaritis.
  4. When the retined* mental teeth do not erupt, they can damage the roots of an adjacent tooth or cause tooth crunches.
  5. When crookedly erupted mental teeth when chewing damage the mucous membrane of the cheeks.
  6. When, due to incompletely erupted or irregularly located mental teeth, bacterial plaque accumulates and the adjacent teeth are damaged by caries.
  7. To reduce the likelihood of the appearance of cysts around the thinned tooth or already remove a tooth with a formed cyst.
  8. To reduce the chance of infections and complications, surgeons recommend removing retined mental teeth that have not erupted or have erupted in an irregular position in late adolescence to the age of 20, when the roots are not fully formed. The longer the delay, the greater the risk of a complicated extraction, as the root of the thinned tooth can become enveloped by nerves or the roots of adjacent teeth.

Extracting a mental tooth is not a simple procedure. The complexity and duration of the surgery depends on the individual situation. Some people manage to have it removed in a few minutes, others take longer.

*Retined (impacted or unerupted) teeth are teeth that are fully formed but have not erupted for certain reasons.

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