Wisdom Teeth Minor Oral Surgery

Wisdom Teeth Minor Oral Surgery / Removal of Teeth for Braces/Orthodontic Treatment

Impacted wisdom tooth refers to the condition whereby the 3rd molar is improperly positioned and not fully erupted in the mouth. The most common presentation for wisdom teeth problem is the infection of the gum that partially covers the wisdom tooth. This piece of gum tissue is called the operculum and with food retained inside the pocket between the tooth and the gums, it is not difficult to imagine why this is a common problem.

Wisdom teeth surgery is a common operation done to remove the impacted or unerupted last 3rd molar.

Sometimes patients going for braces treatment will also need their wisdom teeth removed. Though generally safe, surgical removal of the wisdom tooth has risk of damage to the inferior dental nerve which could cause numbness of the lip as well as damage to the lingual nerve resulting in numbness of the tongue. It will be important that difficult cases of impacted wisdom teeth to be removed by experienced surgeon to minimise the risk of damage to the IDN which may result in permanent numbness. Typically a surgical training programme in the UK would require a trainee to have operated on many wisdom teeth removal before graduation and eventually become a consultant.  Dr Fan had operated on thousands of wisdom teeth cases some of which were very difficult and challenging with high risks of nerve damage.

Complications of wisdom teeth surgery

Lip numbness is uncommon but can happen to patients after wisdom teeth surgery when the inexperienced surgeon had damaged the inferior dental nerve. Some patients had numbness on the tongue due to damage of the lingual nerve. These are difficult problems to treat and so it is important for the surgeon to assess the level of difficulty (and hence refer to a specialist if necessary) and proximity of the nerve to the tooth to prevent damage. Numbness can be permanent.