Different types of impacted wisdom teeth
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Wisdom teeth eruption takes place in your dentition in the late teens or early adults. These are the third set of molars that appear in the mouth between 17 and 25 years of age. Many people think that wisdom teeth extraction is essential because the late molars will cause a problem.
You should know that wisdom teeth do not cause any riddles if they got sufficient space in the dentition. Meanwhile, they will not be troublesome until they become impacted. Unlike eruption, a tooth will be termed as impacted if the tooth is not fully developed and cannot break the gums.
All the impacted teeth do not require removal. Dentists suggest wisdom teeth extraction after examining the type of impaction.
Different Types of Wisdom Teeth
Generally, the impacted wisdom teeth are classified with the following factors:
- Type of orientation
- Nature of the overlying Tissues
Based on the type of Orientation
It involves how a wisdom tooth is inclined or angulated towards the adjacent molar teeth. Depending on the angulation, the impacted teeth are classified as:
- Mesial impaction
- Vertical impaction
- Horizontal impaction
- Distal impaction
1) Mesial impaction
This is the most common type of impaction and causes acute pain. In mesial impaction, the wisdom tooth inclined on the molar tooth in front of it. It applies extra force against the molar teeth and pushes them. The mesial impacted teeth are pointed towards the front of the mouth.
This kind of impacted teeth should be removed immediately with oral surgery. Otherwise, it will end in problems like teeth misalignment and crowded teeth.
2) Vertical impaction
The vertically impacted teeth stand straight like a normal tooth underneath the gums. They do not cause problems as the mesial impacted teeth. Moreover, the chances are higher for such vertically angulated impacted teeth to erupt out the gum flaps. Hence they do not require wisdom teeth extraction unless they cause discomfort.
In certain cases, the vertically angulated molar teeth exert pressure over the bottom side of the front molar teeth.
3) Distal impaction
This is quite opposite to mesial impaction because the wisdom tooth is pointed towards the back of the mouth. The distal impaction occurs rarely and extraction is needed if they hit the jaw bone.
4) Horizontal impaction
Horizontal impaction is the worst case of impacted teeth as it produces extreme discomforts and none of the tooth surfaces is visible. This is because the wisdom tooth lies horizontally and stands parallel to the jaw bone.
It pushes the adjacent teeth constantly and chances are higher for weakening the nearby molar tooth’s support with the jaw bone. Dental Surgeons also reveal that removing this kind of wisdom teeth is quite a challenging thing.
Based on the nature of overlying tissues
It involves the interference of gum tissues in the eruption of wisdom teeth and made the teeth impacted. This is categorized into two types as follows:
- Soft tissue impaction – Soft tissue impaction occurs when a wisdom tooth has penetrated the alveolar bone but cannot erupt through the gum tissue or gum flap. The tissues are quite hard and dense. Removing the wisdom teeth impacted with the soft tissue is very easy when compared to other types of impactions.
- Hard tissue impaction – It is also called as bony impaction because the wisdom tooth eruption is blocked by the overlying bone. It is classified as partial bony and complete bony depending on the extension of the bone over the tooth surfaces.
Conclusion
When a wisdom tooth becomes impacted at particular angulation especially against the adjacent teeth, wisdom tooth extraction is necessary. You can get warning signals like pain, bleeding gums, jaw swelling, headaches and inflammation around the neck when the third molars become impacted.
If you are suffering from these problems with no reason, you may have impacted wisdom teeth. Make an appointment with your Dentist.
