Experiencing severe tooth pain? Need to remove your wisdom teeth? You may need an extraction. An extraction means to have a tooth removed, usually because of disease, trauma, or crowding.
If an extraction sounds intimidating, rest easy knowing your comfort throughout our treatment is our top priority.
If you do not have enough room in your mouth for your third molars to fully erupt, a number of problems can happen. Impacted wisdom teeth should be removed before their root structure is fully developed. In some patients, it is as early as 12 or 13, and in others, it may not be until the early twenties. Problems tend to occur with increasing frequency after the age of 30. Some of the possible problems related to not removing your wisdom teeth include:
The most frequent clinical problem we see is pericoronitis, (a localized gum infection). Without enough room for total eruption, the gum tissue around the wisdom tooth can become irritated and infected, resulting in recurrent pain, swelling, and problems with chewing and/or swallowing.
Non-infectious diseases may also arise in association with an impacted wisdom tooth. Cysts are fluid-filled “balloons” inside the jaw bone that develop as a result of impacted teeth and slowly expand destroying adjacent jaw bone and occasionally teeth. They can be very difficult to treat if your wisdom teeth are not removed in your teenage years. Although rare, tumors can be associated with the delayed removal of wisdom teeth.
Impacted wisdom teeth may contribute to the crowding of your teeth. This is most noticeable with the front teeth, primarily the lower front teeth, and is most commonly seen after a patient has had braces. There are a number of factors that cause teeth to crowd after braces or in early adulthood. Retained, impacted wisdom teeth may be a contributing factor. Unless you have an active problem when you see the oral surgeon, the reason for removal is primarily to prevent long-term damage to your teeth, gums, and jaw bone.
If there is inadequate room to clean around the wisdom tooth, the tooth directly in front, the second molar, can be adversely affected resulting in gum disease, bone loss around the tooth, and/or decay.
As wisdom teeth develop, the roots become longer and the jaw bone more dense. When it is necessary to remove impacted wisdom teeth in your thirties, forties, or beyond, the post-operative course can be prolonged and there is a higher complication rate. Treating these complications is often more difficult and less predictable than with a younger patient. Healing may be slower and the chance of infection can be increased. If your impacted wisdom teeth are not removed in your teenage years or early in your twenties and they are completely impacted in bone, it may be advisable to wait until a localized problem (such as cyst formation or localized gum disease and bone loss) develops. In general, you will heal faster, more predictably, and have fewer complications if treated in your teens or early twenties.
LPRF is a technique that separates leukocytes, platelets, growth factors, and proteins from your blood and combines it into a membrane that helps the healing of soft tissue and aids in bone recovery. LPRF aids in the healing in procedures such as extractions allowing for a faster recovery.
The LPRF Process:
A small amount of blood is typically drawn from a vein (similar to a routine blood draw for lab work) and spun in our centrifuge to isolate and concentrate plasma and platelets. These isolated platelets are then placed where dental treatment has occurred to aid in healing. There is no risk of rejection or an allergic reaction because it’s your own blood that is used.