WHY ARE WISDOM TEETH NOT ERUPTING BY THEMSELVES?
Wisdom teeth most often become impacted because of inadequate dental arch length and space in which to erupt; that is, the total alveolar bone arch length is smaller than the total tooth arch length. Wisdom teeth (third molars) are the most common impacted teeth because, they are the last teeth to erupt and therefore are the most likely to have inadequate space into which to erupt. Extraction should be performed as soon as the dentist (Dr. Vallee and Dr. Manh located in St. Albans, close to Burlington, Vermont) determines that the tooth is impacted.
All impacted teeth should be considered for removal as soon as the diagnosis is made. The average age for the eruption of the wisdom teeth is in between 15 – 20 years old, although eruption may continue in some patients until age 25.
During normal development, the lower third molar (wisdom tooth) begins its development in a horizontal angulation and as the tooth develops and the jaw grows, the angulation changes from horizontal, to mesioangluar, to vertical. Failure of rotation from the mesioangular to the vertical direction is the most common cause of the tooth remaining impacted.
The second major factor would be that the mesioangular dimension of the teeth versus the length of the jaw is cut that there is inadequate room in the alveolar process anterior to the anterior border of the ramus to allow the tooth to erupt into position. At Cloud Dental Center in St. Albans, we will discuss about the management of impacted teeth at the right time. It is our goal to provide both the information necessary for proper management and a basis to determine the difficulty.