Removal of wisdom teeth at the Center for Facial, Maxillofacial and Facial Surgery
The third molars (wisdom teeth) break through approximately between 18 and 30 years of a person’s age. But due to long-term evolutionary changes towards today’s shape of the skull, wisdom teeth usually don’t have enough space in a “too narrow jaw”. They can cause some problems, for instance, when they are imbedded in the bone in a wrong position or have no space on the dental arch because this may cause crowding of the anterior teeth. If the wisdom teeth break through incompletely so that they are partially covered by the surrounding gum tissue, this leads to an unsatisfactory hygienic situation and wisdom teeth impacted (syn: retained) in this manner often cause recurrent infections (Lat.: dentitio difficilis) that require antibiotic treatments most of the time.
Sometimes it happens that only some wisdom teeth can be found or none at all. If a wisdom tooth has no counterpart, it should be removed.
An accurate evaluation of each situation should be based on a clinical diagnosis and appropriate X-ray images (orthopantomogram) that shows the wisdom teeth and the whole dental system.
If they are directly adjacent to structures that need protection such as nerves, neighboring teeth or the maxillary sinus, we prepare a three-dimensional X-ray image (DVT). Once the situation is clarified the wisdom teeth in question will be removed as carefully as possible.
If the patient so desires, the postoperative wounds can be perfectly taken care of by applying the patient’s own blood plasma (PRGF method), since this reduces swellings and positively influences the healing process. This results in a noticeable reduction of postsurgical complications and an accelerated healing process.
Depending on the patient’s wishes we can remove the wisdom tooth or teeth pain-free under local anesthesia, twilight sleep or general anesthesia.
When all four teeth are there, are able to erupt normally and are healthy, there is normally no reason to remove them.
