Dodgy - but painless - wisdom teeth

[frivolous_fay]

I'm a prodigal dentist patient and have recently started going again after a break of 12 years or so.

O/H is in the same boat as me, but he's more reluctant to go - because he thinks they'll take one look at his wonky (horizontal) wisdom teeth and insist on them coming out. They've never given him any trouble.

I think a dentist wouldn't do anything about them if they weren't painful... but this is what's putting him off. (And imo he has bad plaque and should see someone)

Who's right?

[Toothsmith]

That's pretty much the case.

Trouble free wisdom teeth are left alone.

Sometimes, problems that haven't been felt yet can appear on x-ray, but if that's the case, you'd be able to be shown the problem that's developing, and you'd probably be glad to get them out before the agony of infection.

Not going won't help anything!

But the dentist won't take them out just for a laugh!!!

[happymoneysaver79]

As a general rule, if wisdom teeth are not causing any problems then they are not removed as a matter of routeen as used to be the case. In the case of the plaque (a combination of food debris and bacteria) your partner does need to have this professionally removed as this can lead to caries (holes) in the teeth. Once he has had a good scale and polish and had any problems corrected he will be much happier:D and if you manage to get him to go regularly afterwards he should never have any major problems as prevention is always better than the cure! If he did need to have the wisdom teeth removed - dont believe the horror stories - I was a dental nurse for 10 years and I have seen lots of patients who have had their wisdom teeth removed without a problem.
Good luck - I hope this has put his and your mind at rest (at least a little bit!)

[wishiwasarichgirl]

my dentist generally goes by what i tell him, i have had all 4 wisdom teeth erupt, one was causing pain and making my teeth squish together (which i didn't want as i'd spent moths in a brace for nice straight teeth) so he removed it.

my other wisdom teeth don't cause mush trouble, but occas the skin around then gets annoyed and it hurts ilike hell for a few days. I almost got referred to have the bottom (worst ones) removed a couple of years ago but they settled down before i got round to organising it (i had to organise it as i live in england but still see my dentist in Northern Ireland since there was such a long wait for NHS dentists in england ;)!)