Preventing Wisdom Tooth Extractions: What You Can Do For Your Teen

Wisdom teeth begin to push their way through the gums somewhere in your teen's seventeenth to mid-eighteenth year. In many cases, these teeth have a lot of problems because they are the biggest molars in the human mouth. Either there is not enough room for them, or they come in in all sorts of awkward or pain-inducing positions.

Wisdom tooth extractions may be imminent for your teen. However, if you start preventive measures early, your teen may actually be able to keep some or all of his/her wisdom teeth. The following preventive measures can help.

Orthodontic Expanders for the Upper Jaw

Orthodontic expanders change the shape of your teen's upper jaw. The expanders are meant to widen and open up the arch in the top jaw, which then gives your teen's top jaw lots more room to fit teeth.

Your orthodontist leaves the expander in, even long after you have finished the turns needed to push open this space. As such, it gives the wisdom teeth in the upper jaw a chance to extend through the gums and fit comfortably and correctly in the spaces provided for them.

Braces on the Lower Jaw

If your dentist or orthodontist recommends braces on the lower teeth too, follow suit. The braces on your teen's lower jaw will help move the teeth and create more room for teeth on the lower jaw. This allows for the wisdom teeth on the lower jaw to ascend above the gumline and into position when it is time.

Braces after the Wisdom Teeth Begin Erupting

The braces before wisdom tooth eruption help make room and straighten the teeth your teen already has. Another round of braces after the wisdom teeth have begun to erupt helps pull the wisdom teeth into alignment with the rest of the teeth. It also prevents misalignment of the teeth that have already been successfully treated by orthodontics.

If you choose to do this, your teen will not have to schedule or go through wisdom tooth extraction. However, if you failed to or chose not to do the preceding preventive measures, this final measure will be ineffective. Then your teen will need wisdom tooth extraction to prevent problems with bite alignment and misalignment of the molars nearest the wisdom teeth.

Preventive Measures Do Not Always Work

There is a very small percentage of cases where these preventive measures do not work. These cases involve wisdom teeth that fail to erupt, wisdom teeth that try to erupt while one edge is trapped under the molars ahead of them (i.e., impacted), and/or wisdom teeth that erupt at very awkward angles (instead of straight up and down) out of the gums. A dentist such as one at Family First Dentistry LLC can take x-rays to see which way the wisdom teeth are likely to erupt and determine if your teen will need tooth extraction surgery anyway.