What are the different kinds of wisdom tooth impaction?
Unlike your other molars, your wisdom tooth is special because its direction of eruption is not always vertically upwards, like every one of us desired. Instead, they are more likely to emerge in a distorted orientation that it abrades your neighbouring molar and gums. From the infographic below, we can observe more in depth about the different direction a wisdom tooth can erupt and cause you immeasurable pain. Following is the explanation pertaining the different types of impaction:
- Horizontal Impaction
As the name suggests, the wisdom tooth grows at an eight angle to the neighbouring tooth, as if the wisdom tooth is ‘lying down’ on the jawbone. Ignoring the eruption of this kind of wisdom tooth would be fatal because as the wisdom tooth keeps growing, it pushes the neighbouring molar, causing the alignment of the other teeth to be in disarray. - Mesial Impaction
The wisdom tooth grows out at an angle towards the next tooth (second molar). - Vertical Impaction
Although it seems like the wisdom tooth is growing out at the desired orientation, it stays trapped within the jawbone. If the upper wisdom tooth is already fully emerged, the thin layer of gums lying on top of the bottom wisdom tooth may be inflamed due to biting activity. - Distal Impaction
Opposite to mesial impaction, in this case, the wisdom tooth grows at an angle towards the back of the mouth.
No matter what kind of wisdom tooth impaction you may have, the complications and pain that they cause does not discriminate.
Always talk to your dentist early to extract your problematic wisdom tooth before it fully develops! Do not wait till your wisdom tooth are giving your problems or are damaged, it is always better to ensure that your tooth are healthy and well taken care off. You will not want to spend more money to fix your tooth only when they are gone. Check our how much dental implants cost. You can totally avoid having to spend money on dental implants in future if you start taking good care of your teeth now.
