You can take care of your pearly whites and have the best set of teeth ever. However, what you can’t control is the growth of wisdom teeth. The wisdom teeth appear between the ages of 17 to 21 years.
A wisdom tooth can cause a variety of issues for other teeth as well as your jaw – equalling to pain sometimes even fever. This is caused by the tooth not being able to grow properly since it is trapped under the gums or in the jaw with little room to emerge.
The retained wisdom teeth may lead to swelling, stiffness of the jaw, damage to other teeth and their roots, or worse case, harm to surrounding bone and the adjacent teeth in the jaw. In addition, food particles may get stuck to the tooth that failed to grow to lead to additional issues like cavities, foul smell, and tooth decay.
Taking care of your dental hygiene is essential whether your wisdom tooth decides to pop out. When it does, you need to take extra care by brushing it more regularly or, if it is hard to reach, flossing and using mouth washes.
How to Clean Your Wisdom Tooth Thoroughly
Taking care of your wisdom tooth requires additional oral hygiene. Instead of just brushing the teeth, brush along the gum line as it stimulates the tissue and removes soft debris that is collecting at the gum margin. In addition to this, flossing regularly can avoid plaque formation.
When a tooth partially appears in the oral cavity, chances for the growth of bacteria is high and an anti-microbial mouth rinse will provide adequate protection against further progress of any infection or inflammation. Mouthwashes are also helpful in controlling bad breath (halitosis) produced by odorous bacteria.
If these measures do not give you good results, the last resort would be to get the problematic wisdom tooth removed (do not worry, you will not be any less wise!) via surgery. Your dentist will be the best person to advise you on this.
Last but not least, with or without a wisdom tooth issue, it is important to have your dentist do a half-yearly or at least, a yearly check on your teeth.
If you are ready to make a difference and Dentistry is for you, grab this opportunity, log on to www.segi.edu.my, or call 03-6145 1777 or WhatsApp 011-1210 6389 to learn about SEGi’s Dentistry Programme. Alternatively, please speak to our counsellors for more information.