An Impacted tooth happens when teeth lack sufficient space for erupting in the correct position. The main reason teeth get impacted is that they get overcrowded and fail to penetrate through the gum line soft tissue. This situation can either be partially or fully impacted. Although wisdom teeth impaction is the most common in adults, children can also have impacted teeth after losing their milk teeth.
Types of Impacted Teeth
The teeth' impaction type varies from a tooth trying to erupt and its position. Your dentist is the right person to determine the type of eruption you have to come up with the correct option for treatment. The first type of impaction is horizontal impactions. This is known to be the most complicated type of teeth impaction. A horizontal impaction is when the teeth erupt on the side of the gum line. The other type of impaction is vertical impaction. This is a rare impaction because it does not affect the teeth' correct positioning. However, the teeth are close together, which makes it hard to erupt.
Mesial impaction is where wisdom teeth erupt when facing outwards and angle facing the front mouth part. Some dentists also refer to a mesial impaction as an angular impaction. The final type of teeth impaction is distal impaction. With this type of impaction, patients have fully impacted teeth. This means that the teeth face backward from their mouth facing the throat.
Treatment For Impacted Teeth
The patient's impaction will determine the type of treatment required. For instance, those with horizontal impaction may need maxillofacial and extensive oral surgery. This treatment aims to straighten and adjust the face and jaw shape by creating more room for each tooth. For wisdom teeth extraction, local anesthesia is used so that a patient does not feel pain.
An Impacted tooth happens when teeth lack sufficient space for erupting in the correct position. The main reason teeth get impacted is that they get overcrowded and fail to penetrate through the gum line soft tissue. This situation can either be partially or fully impacted. Although wisdom teeth impaction is the most common in adults, children can also have impacted teeth after losing their milk teeth.