By Elara Orthodontics Your teeth are one of your most important assets. Having a beautiful smile, confidence, and the ability to speak clearly are all benefits of having healthy teeth. Teeth in wrong place is undoubtedly the flaw in an otherwise beautiful smile.
If your dentist has told you that you have teeth in wrong place, you may ask questions like, “What does he mean by this?” or “Can impacted teeth be fixed?” You don’t have to worry since we will answer all your questions in this article.
Table of Contents
What is an Impacted Tooth?
An impacted tooth is a tooth that is in the wrong position due to a lack of space in the patient’s jaw. Impacted teeth are usually located in areas where there is not enough room for them to erupt into the mouth and cause problems with your bite or alignment.
An impacted tooth can be a partially erupted tooth, fully erupted tooth, or partially embedded below the gum line. A partially erupted tooth may be difficult to see with the naked eye, especially if it is deep within the jawbone and covered with gum tissue. Impacted teeth can cause pain and discomfort as they grow, so they should be treated as soon as possible.
Which Type of Teeth are Impacted?
Wisdom Teeth
The most common types of impacted teeth are the wisdom teeth and third molars. The wisdom teeth usually erupt between the ages of 17 and 25 and can cause pain during chewing. If these teeth are not extracted when they first become visible, there is a chance that they will become impacted. This is because your jaw may be small and thus unable to accommodate the wisdom teeth. An impacted molar tooth may need to be removed by a dentist if it causes pain or swelling in your mouth.
Maxillary Canines
Maxillary canines are also commonly impacted because they’re larger than other teeth and have to fit within your jawbone. The maxillary canines may need removal if they cause problems in your mouth, such as chewing or swallowing.
What causes an Impacted Tooth?
There are a number of causes for a tooth stuck in the gum. One of the most common causes is crowding in your jaw, which can cause your teeth to move into positions where they cannot erupt through the gum line. Another cause of impacted tooth inside gum is a lack of room in the mouth for all of the teeth to come in properly.
Tooth inside gum is a problem that can be caused by familial traits. If one or both of parents had impacted wisdom teeth or any other kind of impacted tooth, then the baby’s teeth coming in wrong order is a condition that may be expected.
A cyst in your mouth may also lead to an erupted tooth. The cyst can be located in the bone around the teeth, or it may be inside the jawbone. When a cyst grows, it can push the teeth into the wrong position. If the root of your erupted tooth has been pushed away from its normal position, then it will not be able to grow normally.
Another common cause of a tooth inside gum is baby teeth not falling out. Baby teeth are important for chewing and speaking, but they are also vital to the development of permanent teeth—they help guide them into place. If a baby’s tooth does not fall out, it can become trapped by neighboring teeth, which prevents permanent teeth from emerging correctly. This will then lead to the baby’s teeth coming in wrong order.
Signs of a Tooth Impaction
The most common symptoms of impacted teeth include:
- Pain in the face or jaws that occurs when chewing or biting down on food
- Swelling of your face or cheeks due to pressure on nearby nerves by an impacted tooth’s root
- Headaches that worsen after eating or drinking hot beverages
- Earaches caused by inflammation due to pressure on your eardrum from an impacted tooth’s root
- Sensitive gums
- Gum swelling
- Inflammation (redness) of the gums
- Tooth decay
- Difficulty opening your mouth
- Untreated Teeth Impaction
If left untreated, tooth stuck in gum often results in crowding and spacing problems with other teeth in your mouth. For example, if an impacted tooth is on top of another tooth and does not erupt properly, it could cause damage to this tooth as well as affect its growth pattern. It can also lead to chronic pain in the jaw and difficulty maintaining proper oral hygiene.
In addition, if tooth stuck in gum is not treated, it will cause tooth decay because food particles can get trapped between the gum tissue and the root of the tooth.
Other complications include:
- Infection of surrounding structures, such as the sinus walls, cheekbone, and floor of the mouth
- Damage to supporting bone structures that support adjacent structures (such as the roots of adjacent teeth)
How is Teeth Impaction diagnosed?
The dentist may use x-rays to confirm the diagnosis of an impacted tooth. The x-ray will show how far the erupted tooth has moved into the jawbone or if it has not erupted at all. We will also ask you questions related to your condition as it is important to know the symptoms you are experiencing and how they affect your oral and overall health too.
Can Impacted Teeth Be Fixed?
There are two main treatment options for impacted teeth: extraction and orthodontic treatment. Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. The dentist will determine which option is best for your individual case after examining your mouth and speaking with you about your goals for treatment.
Orthodontic treatment
Orthodontics is a treatment that straightens teeth and aligns them in a healthy position. It’s an effective way to improve your smile and your bite, as well as your overall oral health.
Orthodontic treatment is the most common option for impacted teeth. It involves using braces to move the teeth into their proper positions. This can be done in a variety of ways, depending on the location of the erupted tooth and surrounding structures.
The goal of orthodontic treatment with impacted teeth is usually to move them down into their final position, where they can erupt normally through the gums. We may conduct an oral surgery procedure to remove gum tissues around your affected tooth. We will then place a bracket with a chain on the erupted tooth in order to guide the tooth to the wire and the brackets of the braces. We will then replace the chain with a rubber band, which will eventually place the impacted tooth in a proper position. If this cannot be achieved, then other options should be considered, such as extraction.
Extraction
The most common method of treating an erupted tooth is extraction. A surgical extraction is done under local anesthesia and is followed by antibiotics to prevent infection. This type of procedure is often used when there are multiple teeth impacted in one area, but only one needs to be removed. Surgical extractions of an erupted tooth is also useful if there are other complications such as trauma or infection in other areas of the mouth that need to be addressed at the same time as removing the impacted tooth.
Complications after an Oral Surgery Procedure
You’ll be given some pain medication before the surgery starts, but you can still feel some discomfort during the operation. Afterward, there may be some complications, such as:
- Pain when eating hot or cold foods
- Swelling in your gums and the extraction area
- Dry socket, which happens when blood vessels under the gum recede after an extraction, causing pain, inflammation, and abscesses
- Slow healing of your mouth
- Mild swelling or bleeding after the procedure
- Bruises around your gums and cheeks that lasts for up to two weeks after surgery
- Injury to a nerve or artery near an impacted tooth
- Damage to another tooth during surgery
Who will treat my Impacted Teeth in Richmond, Texas
If you have an impacted molar tooth that has not erupted, you should consult us for treatment. The first step to treating an impacted wisdom tooth is to remove any plaque or tartar from the surface of your teeth. We will then check to see if your wisdom teeth are able to erupt naturally.
After removing an impacted molar tooth, there may be scarring from previous surgeries or from the extraction itself that could affect the way your remaining teeth fit together when you eat. We will recommend ways for you to reduce this risk so that food does not get trapped between your upper and lower jaws while eating.
After treatment, we recommend that you continue visiting us at Elara Orthodontics in Richmond Texas, regularly to follow the health of your teeth.
Children with Impacted Teeth
Children with teeth in wrong place usually have a history of difficulty chewing food, pain, and swelling in their jaws, difficulty opening their mouths wide enough to clean their teeth properly, or an inability to chew certain foods like hard candy or popcorn kernels because they cannot open their mouth wide enough.
Orthodontics treatment options for an impacted tooth is recommended for young children (before the age of eight) because the teeth are still developing. Our orthodontists at Elara Orthodontics in Richmond Texas, Dr. Alireza Hourfar, and Dr. Sara Abedini recommend that all impacted teeth be removed to prevent your baby’s teeth coming in wrong order. Orthodontics care at an early age is easier and faster for an Impacted tooth.
Contact Us
If you’re experiencing any symptoms associated with wrong position of your teeth and aren’t sure if they’re caused by impacted teeth, schedule an appointment with us at Elara Orthodontics in Richmond Texas, as soon as possible to discuss the issue further.