Hi Cerise
Yes good question. It is quite important to understand why you have such a concern in the first place. If a dentist has recommended this to you, then I would presume a dental xray has been done and there might be a reason as to why he or she has advised removal in the absence of any pain.
Many patients have come in with wisdom tooth pain and said to me: "Doctor… there has been no pain in the wisdom tooth area until TODAY….WHY ???"
Worse…such patients may already have had irreversible damage to the 2nd molar (in front of the wisdom tooth). Sometimes they might require removal of both the wisdom tooth (3rd molar) and the 2nd molar at the same time !! Of course this thankfully does not happen to every single person.
But it is true, due to our refined diets these days, most of us do not have space in our jaws for full normal eruption of wisdom teeth.
If a large (panoramic) xray called an OPG is done for the detection of decay or gum disease, many dentists typically would comment on the status of the wisdom teeth. Since wisdom teeth typically erupt from 18-24 years of age, it would be quite easy to advise if there are any early or potential problems such as confirming the likelihood of the wisdom tooth being impacted (normal eruption being affected by the 2nd molar)
I am a firm believer of the prevention of further damage to good teeth for example the 2nd molar.
We routinely do OPGs (large xrays) at 3 year intervals (National Institute of Clinical Excellence Guidelines) where the wisdom teeth are assessed.
During your 6 monthly examinations and cleaning, your risk profile will then be assessed based on a number of other factors including how well you keep your mouth and in particular whether you are able to keep your wisdom teeth clean.
An early assessment is quite important as both you and I do not want undetected surprises
Yours
Dr Samintharaj KUMAR
