Should I Warn The Oral Surgeon Of Tmj Before Wisdom Teeth Removal

I am 26 years old and one of my wisdom teeth on my left lower jaw has never grown in. My dentist told me that I am likely to have a problem with it at a later age. What could this problem be and what's the cause of the delay of tooth growth?

It sounds like your wisdom teeth are impacted. This means there is not enough room for them to grow in properly without pushing your other teeth out of place. I was seventeen when mine had to be extracted (removed surgically). Normally they are supposed to grow in around age twenty-one. If your jaw is becoming painful or you notice your teeth are closer together than they once were, I suggest speaking with an oral surgeon and having your teeth x-ray’d. If it is safe to do so, you can have them extracted before any (more) damage is done. They will put you to sleep for the surgery and when you wake up, you'll have a mouth full of gauze. You will be given a list of after-care instructions and teach you how to care for the extraction site. They will also give you a syringe containing no needle. With this, you will need to clean your gums by shooting water into the holes where your teeth once were every single time after eating to prevent food from lodging inside your gums and becoming infected. You cannot eat solid foods for the first few days, you'll need to change the gauze every few hours at first until the healing process kicks in and you aren't soaking through it with blood so quickly.I must give you a warning that I wish I had known after my surgery. I use to have a bad habit where I would bite the insides of my cheeks and continue biting anything that was not perfectly smooth. The gas they use to knock you out and the novicane, when combined, make you not think straight and also numb you so completely that if you have the same habit I did, BE CAREFUL NOT TO BITE YOUR CHEEKS. I bit a hole a so deep I almost made it to the skin on my face. I damaged a nerve in my cheek and have very little feeling on that side (although over the years it has come back more than I believed it would).If there is no reason for you not to get this surgery, you should do it as soon as possible. You don't want to damage your teeth and the younger you are, the quicker you'll heal. There will also be less chance of permanent nerve damage in your jaw done during surgery if you do it as soon as possible.Good luck!

Should I get my wisdom teeth out if they are not bothering me?

It depends. Although they may not be bothering you now, there are several reasons to have them removed before an actual problem crops up. Here is what you must consider with your doctor before you decide on what to do about your wisdom teeth:Are they currently causing soft tissue irritation or have a cavity? It may not bother you now, but it can become a problem later on.Can you effectively keep them clean? Lack of complete eruption of the teeth into the mouth can create pockets of tissue that collect bacteria around your wisdom teeth. Also their location in the back of your mouth can make them difficult to clean. It is very important that you are able to fully clean your wisdom teeth (and the rest of your teeth) because infections involving wisdom teeth are a leading cause of multi-space infections that spread to areas around your head and neck.Are they in proper occlusion and is there room for them? Due to their location and the age at which they grow into the mouth, often times there is not enough room for wisdom teeth in the mouth and they may grow into  place where they are interfering with the normal function of your jaws. This interference can create pain in the TMJ (the joint of your jaws) down the road.Is there an opposing tooth contacting your wisdom teeth when you bite down? Not everyone has all 4 of their wisdom teeth. Many times wisdom teeth grow into the mouth without a tooth in the opposite dental arch to come in contact with during biting. This may not seem like a problem; however, without that feedback a tooth can supererupt (grow higher than surrounding teeth) and cause occlusal interferences, and rub against soft tissue causing irritation.Is it impacted? Depending on the type and severity of impaction, this can create soft tissue pockets as before and also push on the roots of your other good teeth causing resorption (the root disintegrates). A lot of times impacted teeth can just be left alone, but it really depends on what the impacted tooth is doing.Everyone can identify a problem when there are active symptoms. However, if there are signs that a major problem is coming down the road, why wait? Another reason to decide sooner rather than later, is that the bone around your teeth will mature with age and can make  wisdom teeth more difficult to remove as you get older.

How can wisdom teeth cause swollen lymph nodes?

Swollen lymphnodes indicate the presence of an infection,they are usually tender,except in some infections they may be stony hard(tuberculosis),in malignancies they are often non tender.Certain tumors also spread(metastasize) via the lymphatics and hence lymph nodes may be swollen or enlarged.Tumors which arise in itself from lymphoid tissue can cause the same.Dental infections very commonly cause lymph node enlargement where the neck meets the jaw,called the submandibular lymph nodes,anterior teeth and tongue infections may cause enlargement of the submental lymph nodes.See below for a good idea of lymphnodes commonly involved in dental infections and malignancies.Image form Google search.

I forgot not to smoke after a tooth extraction. What will happen?

Most likely nothing will happen. I usually smoke lightly after giving the socket about 24 hours to heal (I have an advantage in that I smoke Roll Your Own nonfilters so the suction pressure is very low, particularly if I take a slow careful puff.) And then go back to regular levels of smoking 24 to 48 or 72 hours after.Statistically I’ve seen different figures out there but in general it appears that if you have had a molar pulled and you are a nonsmoker (and/or(?) do not smoke at all for the first 24 to72 hours after extraction) there is roughly, on average, about a 5% chance of dry socket. If you go back to regular smoking almost immediately after extraction that is thought to pop up to about 15%.Soooo…. You say you “forgot” and smoked presumably a cigarette or two. You may have bumped your 5% up to 6% or even 7 or 8% (I’d lean toward the 6% unless you greedily sucked down the whole thing right upon walking out of the office AND were smoking a cigarette with a very harsh/high-suction draw.Dry socket isn’t in any general sense “life-threatening” (I don’t think I’ve run across any claims of such from the antismoking gallery), but it IS supposed to be VERY painful/uncomfortable for a full two to five weeks, so I’d recommend pretty strongly to any that they skip smoking definitely for the first 12 hours or so and likely the first 24. It’s better if you can extend that to 48 but I don’t think I’ve seen figures saying that the extension is that critical, and I believe that at least some of the hoopla about 48 and 72 and 96 and a gazillion hours of abstaining is generated not from overwhelming sound dental research advice, but is rather a push from antismoking campaigners once again targeting a vulnerable population, a “target of advantage” who they can threaten with pain and doom and destruction if they don’t “get with the program” and quit smoking and then preferably stay quit.OK… those are my thoughts, formed from a lot of reading on it and a general knowledge of antismoking strategy. NOTE: I am NOT a dentist in any way shape or form.MJM, who, after 50+ years of smoking, a number of years of professional dental care neglect, and over two tons of chocolate, still has most of his teeth in place!