You may have seen the skull of an ape on TV, and a closer look will reveal that in the early stages of humans, the jawbone was very large, with enough space for the teeth to line up and not appear which teeth were squeezed out of place. But as humans eat more and more fine food, chewing does not need too strong bite force, the jawbone gradually shrinks, but the teeth shrink slower than the jawbone, resulting in the jawbone does not have enough space for the teeth to grow neatly. So the last wisdom teeth to erupt, it is easy to have no place to grow, and then there is an obstructed wisdom teeth. What is an obstructed wisdom tooth? Simply put, a wisdom tooth that grows crooked is an obstructed wisdom tooth. If you can still tolerate it, don’t pull it out, right? The people think that since the human body grows wisdom teeth, its existence is meaningful, so do not pull it if you can still tolerate it, which is a very unreliable idea. If the wisdom tooth is often inflamed, it will bring a lot of inconvenience to the patient’s life; because the wisdom tooth is relatively backward, it is difficult to brush clean, so it is easy to appear caries; in addition, the wisdom tooth may also distort and damage the neighboring teeth, which will easily lead to the blockage of teeth, etc. The cavity will also easily appear in the gap between the teeth that are often blocked. If the wisdom tooth erupts in the correct position, we do not call it an obstructed tooth. Correctly grown wisdom teeth are helpful for chewing and not harmful to other teeth; however, if wisdom teeth are diagnosed as obstructive teeth, they may cause damage to other teeth and will often become inflamed and affect your life, don’t hesitate, they should be extracted! The wisdom tooth is not an obstructive tooth that can be extracted whenever you want 1. Generally, patients come to the doctor only when they have swollen and painful wisdom teeth; and 60% to 70% of these patients have blocked wisdom teeth. We know that the jawbone is symmetrical, and the size and number of teeth are also symmetrical. If one side of the wisdom tooth is obstructed, the other side is more likely to be obstructed. Therefore, when the blocked wisdom teeth just start to swell and hurt, they should be extracted. 2. Do I have to remove the wisdom teeth that are buried in the gums? When the position of the wisdom tooth is high and buried shallowly, it is easier to “show”; when the position of the wisdom tooth is low and buried deeply, it will be wrapped up by the gums and jawbone, so when the wisdom tooth grows, the gum surface cannot see the erupting wisdom tooth. This kind of non-emerging wisdom tooth is likely to damage the roots of neighboring teeth, and the consequences will be more serious, so the wisdom tooth that cannot be seen should be dealt with. Generally speaking, if the wisdom tooth is buried particularly deep and the jawbone and gums are tightly wrapped, it may not show symptoms of swelling and pain. Therefore, the doctor will see if it will cause inflammation of the surrounding deep tissues or damage to the neighboring teeth through X-ray, and if it causes these adverse effects, it should be extracted. 3. Do I still need to remove the normal wisdom teeth of the upper teeth together with the lower ones after extraction? If the wisdom teeth in the lower jaw are gone, there will be a vacancy when biting, and the upper jaw wisdom teeth will have room to continue growing and will grow longer and longer. There will be a height difference between the upper jaw wisdom teeth and the neighboring teeth, which will be very easy to block the teeth, and over time, tooth decay will occur. Therefore, in general, the wisdom teeth on both sides of the upper and lower jaw will be extracted. However, there is a situation where wisdom teeth need to be retained: although the wisdom teeth in the lower jaw are extracted, when biting, the maxillary wisdom teeth can fit with the other teeth in the lower jaw and the teeth will not grow; or the neighboring teeth of the maxillary wisdom teeth have been extracted and the wisdom teeth can be traction to the position of the neighboring teeth, which can also be left unextracted. Does it hurt when the anesthetic wears off after wisdom tooth extraction? If the blocked wisdom tooth is buried deep, a small incision will be made in the tooth bed to expose the wisdom tooth; if the wisdom tooth is partially blocked by the jawbone during the extraction process, the jawbone will need to be opened slightly. The main purpose of the incision is to expose the obstructing wisdom tooth. If the obstructing wisdom tooth can be seen without the incision, there is no need to make an incision. Generally speaking, patients will be sensitive to pain within three or four hours after tooth extraction; however, the incision in the tooth bed will not be very painful, and the effect of anesthesia can last for several hours. Before the anesthesia wears off, taking some oral painkillers will be a good way to combat the pain after tooth extraction.