Illustration of a tooth with a medical cross and dental tools in the background, representing dental care or dentistry

Wisdom teeth

Grows when you’re becoming wise 👴, but the way that it grows is not really that wise 😢.

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In this section of the website, I will be talking specifically about extractions in relation to wisdom teeth. This may apply to other teeth as well.
🦷 Learn more about extractions (general)

Dental extractions (or known as  "taking your tooth out")

Dental extractions is the act of having your tooth taken out. It is a relatively straightforward procedure which can done within one appointment.

How is it achieved?

We use local anaesthetics numb the area near your tooth, so you feel no pain while it’s been removed, you'll be awake during the procedure, and the need for surgery depends on the tooth's condition and nerve proximity, often requiring an x-ray evaluation for personalized care.

Why do I need to have my wisdom tooth taken out?

Here are some of the top 5 reasons to have your wisdom teeth removed:

  1. Pain – pretty obvious

  2. Caries – a.k.a dental decay, when you have dental decay it not only can cause pain, but it will also affect your neighbouring teeth. This means not only your wisdom tooth will have a hole your tooth in the front will also have one. Removing it early will prevent this from happening

  3. Prevention of supra-eruption

  4. Food traps

  5. Pericoronitis

Supra-eruption

An illustration of a dental procedure showing a tooth with a brown cavity being filled or treated, with arrows indicating the process.

Teeth move until they touch something, so if only one is taken out, the opposite one moves excessively and can lead to biting the gum, trapping food and bacteria. That excessive movement due extra space in the mouth is called supra-eruption.

Removing both opposing teeth at once prevents this from happening makes the healing time efficient.

Food trap

Animated diagram showing the space between the wisdom tooth and neighboring molar, where plaque accumulates but cannot be cleaned out.

This will lead to dental decay and will affect your neighbouring tooth.

Pericoronitis

A diagram of a wisdom tooth impacted against neighboring teeth, showing inflammation and gum swelling.

This happens when a tooth (usually wisdom tooth) partially comes in, forming a pocket where bacteria gather and cannot be fully cleaned due to the surrounding gum tissue. This can lead to jaw pain, stiffness, and swelling — a strong reason to remove your wisdom teeth.

In simple terms:

  • peri = around

  • coro = crown

  • nitis = inflammation

    Inflammation around your dental crown

Why should I take my wisdom tooth out at such a young age?

This is because, as a young adult (generally 15 to 22 years old), removing wisdom teeth is safer, easier and requires less recovery than taking it out later in life. This is because the roots aren't fully formed, the bone in the jaws is less dense and recovery from surgery generally is faster.

Further information about wisdom teeth

A lighthearted take from the Awkward Yeti about wisdom teeth:

Comic strip featuring two anthropomorphic teeth characters discussing wisdom teeth. One says some believe people no longer need wisdom teeth, and the other claims that their time is just a nuisance. The first tooth tries to prove them wrong but gets stuck, leading to frustration.

Some examples of bad positioning (credit to Superchlorine)

An illustration comparing a wisdom tooth to other molars. The wisdom tooth is depicted with a happy face and a love heart, saying 'Be mine!', while the other molars have sad or neutral expressions. The image explains that the wisdom tooth grows at an angle and may cause pain, warning to get away from it.
Illustration of three teeth with various expressions, representing soft tissue impaction, with accompanying text explaining the condition.
An animated illustration of three teeth with different expressions on their faces, one angry, one surprised, and one calm, with a caption saying "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" and a humorous story about a wisdom tooth getting distracted by a piece of plaque.
A humorous comic about teeth. One tooth with glasses says, 'Sorry, dear, did I just bump into you?' It has a sad face. The middle tooth has a surprised face with an exclamation point above it and says, 'Gramps, what are you doing here?!' The tooth on the right has a calm face with closed eyes.