One of the most common questions that Moore residents ask Dr. Perry Brooks or Dr. Seth Brooks is related to wisdom teeth removal timeline – “When’s the right age to get wisdom teeth removed?”
Their answer isn’t as direct as some patients may be expecting. Instead of giving them an age range to come to Oklahoma Dental Implants and Oral Surgery for wisdom teeth removal, the doctors simply tell patients they should have their wisdom teeth removed as soon as they become bothersome to them. For some people, that will be in their teens. For others, that will be sometime in their 20s.
How Wisdom Teeth Affect Moore Dental Patients Differently
Sometime during your teens or 20’s, your wisdom teeth will make an attempt to erupt. This may be a noticeable event, which you can easily tell because you have a tooth or teeth breaking through at the very back of your gums.
For other people, the event is noticeable not because of what they can see, but because of what they feel – a pain that just won’t go away. If the back of your mouth is swollen and always hurting, it could be a sign that your wisdom teeth are about the erupt, or are impacted (meaning they’re stuck underneath your existing teeth).
And finally, some lucky Moore residents get told by their local dentist that they should seek wisdom teeth removal before they ever feel the pain that’s so often associated with them. That’s because their dental x-rays may reveal that the wisdom teeth are soon going to be making their attempt to appear, and it just makes the best sense to seek out wisdom teeth removal sooner rather than later.
Why Do Wisdom Teeth Need to Be Removed at All?
Aside from the pain that wisdom teeth may cause Moore dental patients, there are other functional and cosmetic reasons for wisdom teeth removal. You see, our mouths are really only designed to hold the 28 teeth we get in adolescence. But in the time before modern dentistry developed, it was very common for people like you and me to lose adult teeth to disease and injury.
But nature had a makeup plan.
To compensate for the fact that most humans used to lose some adult teeth, our bodies have wisdom teeth – a set of 4 extra molars that tend to appear in our teens or 20’s. For ancient man, wisdom teeth were helpful. But given that today, even if we do lose an adult tooth that we can have replaced with a dental implant, wisdom teeth really don’t provide any use to us anymore. Instead, they cause pain, tooth crowding, and can even cause your teeth to shift – affecting your beautiful smile.
Whatever your age, if your wisdom teeth are becoming noticeable to you – or your general dentist – it’s time to have them removed.
Call Us to Schedule an Appointment, During Which We’ll Keep You Completely Comfortable and Relaxed
Dr. Perry Brooks or Dr. Seth Brooks can remove your wisdom teeth for you, keeping you completely comfortable and numbed – and even asleep, if you prefer – throughout the entire process.
To schedule an appoint to have your wisdom teeth removed, call Oklahoma Dental Implants and Oral Surgery today at (405) 329-3500.
