Wisdom teeth, should they be removed or not? It has nothing to do with whether your face is big or small

"Toothache is not a disease, but it is really painful when it happens!" I believe many people have heard this sentence. Toothache alone can be fatal, so tooth extraction is a nightmare. If the tooth to be extracted is a "deep-rooted" wisdom tooth that does not follow common sense, the degree of pain is unimaginable.

However, when all this met the rumor that "wisdom teeth extraction can make your face thinner", many people, especially those who always think their faces are fat, began to be a little eager to try. Some people even wanted to have their wisdom teeth extracted simply for the purpose of face thinning even though there was nothing wrong with them. But will the result be as expected? The key question of whether wisdom teeth should be extracted is whether they are "impacted"!

Tuchong Creative

01

Should wisdom teeth be removed?

Check if it's an impacted tooth

Wisdom teeth are the third molars in the human mouth. Since the development, maturity and eruption of teeth are closely related to the development of the entire human body, and there are individual differences, the eruption time of wisdom teeth varies from person to person. Generally speaking, it erupts between the ages of 16 and 25, which is when people's physical and psychological development is close to maturity, so it is commonly called "wisdom teeth."

Wisdom teeth are not useless. If their shape and position are normal, they can perform normal physiological chewing functions. We should know that the survival of our human ancestors was very dependent on the preservation of teeth. However, with the development of social civilization, food has become more and more refined, the function of teeth has become increasingly reduced, and the alveolar bone that directly supports the teeth has also significantly retreated. In this process of "social evolution and bone degeneration", the degeneration of teeth is not as obvious as that of alveolar bones, so it often causes abnormal positions and shapes of the third molars that erupt last, which is the "impacted" phenomenon we often hear doctors refer to. "Impacted wisdom teeth" are wisdom teeth that can only partially erupt or cannot erupt at all, or even cannot erupt in the future.

Tuchong Creative

02

Impacted wisdom teeth are harmful

It should be removed as soon as possible

Impacted wisdom teeth often endanger oral health. The most common hazard is pericoronitis , which is inflammation of the soft tissue around the crown of the wisdom tooth. Often wisdom teeth cannot grow out completely due to various reasons, forming a deep blind pocket between the gingival flap and the crown, and food residues and bacteria can easily enter the pocket; in addition, the crown gingival flap is often damaged by chewing food, forming ulcers. When the body's resistance is reduced (such as colds, fevers, staying up late, etc.), it will cause acute inflammation. If the inflammation is not controlled in time or handled improperly, it may also cause facial swelling and even throat compression. In severe cases, it may cause suffocation and endanger life! If the wisdom tooth is not removed in time after the inflammation is controlled, the swelling and pain will come again!

Another hazard is that the adjacent teeth are affected, and even the jawbone is affected. Since wisdom teeth are located at the back and are not easy to clean, food residues are easily accumulated between the wisdom teeth and the adjacent teeth in front, breeding bacteria, which will corrode the adjacent teeth over time, causing the wisdom teeth to "rot not only themselves but also the adjacent teeth in front of them". In the end, you may lose two teeth and regret it! There are also some more hidden wisdom teeth. They hide deep in the jawbone, secretly expand and squeeze the surrounding bones until they form cysts. The scary thing is that there are no symptoms at the beginning, and when symptoms appear, irreversible consequences may have already occurred!

Tuchong Creative

In view of the above reasons, the sooner the wisdom teeth have problems, the better . If possible, they should be examined as soon as possible after they erupt to determine whether they need to be removed. Because most wisdom teeth are not fully developed at this time, extraction is less traumatic, has fewer complications, and is easy to heal. However, there is no direct causal relationship between wisdom tooth extraction and face slimming, so don't remove wisdom teeth for the sake of face slimming, as that will not achieve the goal!

03

Things to note before and after wisdom tooth extraction

The precautions before and after wisdom tooth extraction are very important and cannot be ignored. First of all, you must be fully prepared before extraction, including psychological preparation, knowledge preparation and physiological preparation. Among them, psychological preparation is to eliminate tension, anxiety and fear. At present, the extraction of impacted wisdom teeth mostly adopts the minimally invasive extraction method of high-speed turbine, which is short in time and less traumatic; knowledge preparation is to understand various contraindications of tooth extraction (heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, pregnancy and menstruation, etc.) and precautions before and after tooth extraction; physiological preparation includes the control of inflammation around wisdom teeth and the body being in a healthy state. The more fully prepared you are, the less pain you will feel during the extraction of wisdom teeth, and the smoother your recovery will be after the extraction of wisdom teeth.

Tuchong Creative

After wisdom teeth removal, please pay attention to the following points:

1. Take out the gauze after 30-40 minutes of chewing and do not rinse your mouth within 24 hours;

2. Do not suck on the extraction socket. It is normal to have pink blood in your saliva within 1-2 days.

3. You can eat and drink after 2 hours, but avoid chewing with the affected side. Do not eat hard or hot food, or food with too many crumbs. Avoid food residues that increase the chance of infection. It is recommended to eat warm, cool, soft food.

4. There may be mild inflammatory edema after tooth extraction. You can apply cold compress to the surgical area within 24 hours after surgery to reduce or avoid swelling. If swelling occurs, it will peak in 24-48 hours and will gradually subside after the third day. You can apply hot compress 24-48 hours after surgery to promote swelling subsidence. There may be a low fever after surgery, but no medicine is needed. Just rest well and the swelling will subside naturally.

5. If you have excessive bleeding, blood clots in your saliva, severe pain and swelling, difficulty opening your mouth, high fever, or other discomfort, you should go to the hospital for emergency treatment;

Tuchong Creative

6. The doctor will decide whether to take oral medication or intravenous infusion after the operation based on the patient's general condition and the situation during the tooth extraction. Generally, no medication is required after tooth extraction. For example, sutures can be removed after a review 5-7 days after the operation;

7. Rest as much as possible within one week after tooth extraction, talk less, avoid strenuous exercise, and it is not recommended to travel by plane to avoid high blood pressure and increase the risk of wound bleeding and infection. Also, try not to smoke or drink.

Author | Yuan Fusong, attending physician at Peking University School of Stomatology

Review | Rong Wensheng, Chief Physician, Department of Prevention, Peking University School of Stomatology

This article is produced by the "Science Rumor Refutation Platform" (ID: Science_Facts). Please indicate the source when reprinting.