Wisdom Teeth extraction in orange ca

Wisdom Tooth consultation near anaheim, newport beach cA

Wisdom teeth removal is a preventative oral surgery procedure patients get between their teenage years to early twenties. It is natural to be nervous before any surgical procedure, but your care and experience is our priority. At CORE, Center for Oral Reconstruction and Education, Dr. Grant and Dr. Mergelmeyer ensure that your oral surgery procedures are safe and comfortable.  

What are wisdom teeth?

Your wisdom teeth are molars that usually emerge through the gums in the back of your mouth between 14 and 25 years of age. Wisdom teeth are the third set of molars you get during your lifetime. The first molars arrive around the age of six, and the second molars come in around 12 years of age. Your late teens and early twenties are a period of intellectual growth and maturing into a young adult, which coincides with the emergence of your third molars, hence the nickname, “wisdom teeth.”

A modern human mouth holds a total of 28 teeth, but that was not always the case. If you go back to the paleolithic era, about 3.3 million years ago, our species did not cook their food. Prehistoric humans needed an extra set of molars to help chew raw meat and fibrous plant life. Fast-forward to today, humans no longer need the third molars or wisdom teeth.

As far back as 1.8 million years ago, humans began cooking meat and plants in some communities. Over the next 1.4 million years, human civilizations worldwide independently adopted cooking. Our anatomy adapted to accommodate fewer teeth once cooking eliminated the need for our third molars. Today, the mouth does not have room to accommodate four wisdom teeth, yet they are still a part of our human anatomy.

Since the advent of dentistry in 7000 BC, wisdom teeth removal has been necessary, and it remains so to this day. Today, nine out of ten patients need at least one wisdom tooth extracted during their lifetime. The best time to get them removed depends on the anatomy based on proper imaging before they become symptomatic.

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When do you need wisdom teeth removed?

If you need your wisdom teeth removed, the odds are that you are not alone within your peer group. Have any of your friends had their wisdom teeth out recently? Most patients have their wisdom teeth evaluated and treated during their high-school years or early twenties. There is a window of opportunity depending on the development of the molars, during which they are safer to extract. After the teeth fully develop roots can be dense within the jaw which can lead to a higher risk of damage to nerves, bone, sinus cavity, and adjacent teeth.

what happens if you don’t remove wisdom teeth?

The whole point of removing your wisdom teeth is to be preventative to avoid future infection and the dental complications that can occur at a later age. Therefore, proper imaging as a teenager is most ideal to determine the most favorable treatment plan. If issues develop at a later age, then treating only the one that is symptomatic, associated with pathology, or adjacent teeth have decay due to cleanability are the top reasons to address the third molar. Sometimes, wisdom teeth develop out of the gums at odd angles, this can lead to an elevated risk of oral infection.

Keeping your wisdom teeth means they can become problematic at any point down the road, at which time there is a higher risk of extraction or complications. In rare cases, the wisdom teeth might have space to emerge without disturbing other teeth.

Wisdom teeth can be responsible for:

• Oral infections – primary reason
• Pain and sensitivity in the back of the mouth
• Oral cysts and (in some cases) tumors
• Damage to neighboring teeth leading to tooth loss
• Tooth crowding and dental misalignment

Cost of Wisdom Teeth Removal

Every tooth extraction procedure has different variables that affect the cost of treatment. The cost of a wisdom teeth extraction procedure will vary depending on the positioning, level of impaction, and the number of wisdom teeth to remove. During your initial consultation, our Treatment Coordinator will walk you through the cost details transparently and answer all your questions.

Choosing an Oral Surgeon for Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Our oral surgeons and professional staff are dedicated to guiding you through every step of your wisdom teeth extraction procedure. At the Center for Oral Reconstruction and Education, we go above and beyond to provide personalized care to ensure a positive experience, including:

• Empathetic to all your concerns and needs
• Accommodating your anesthesia and sedation level preferences
• Offering comfort and compassion to patients and families
• Providing home care, after-hours contact, and emergency availability
• Avoiding invasive procedures through careful treatment planning
• Minimizing and easing your recovery through considerate and efficient planning

Each patient heals differently.  After about a week of recovery, most patients are ready to resume their regular diet and routine. Depending on the level of impaction, growth of the wisdom teeth and co-morbidities, healing can take longer. We are happy to walk you through the process to properly create a diagnosis and treatment plan and to determine when and if oral surgery is necessary. Call our office today to schedule your consultation for wisdom teeth removal.

– Dr. Bao-Thy Grant, 

BOARD-CERTIFIED ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL SURGEON IN ORANGE COUNTY

To read more about wisdom teeth view our informative pages below.

• Impacted Wisdom Teeth
• Wisdom Teeth Removal
• After Wisdom Teeth Extraction