What are wisdom teeth and why are they sometimes need to be extracted?
• Wisdom teeth are part of the third and final set of molars that most people get in their late teens or early twenties. Sometimes these teeth can be a valuable asset to the mouth when healthy and properly aligned, but more often, they are misaligned and require removal. When misaligned, they can angle inward or outward, crowd adjacent teeth and cause bacteria and plaque to be trapped in hard to reach places. They sometimes do not have room to come out and remain entrapped in the soft tissue and become “impacted” resulting in pain, swelling and jaw stiffness.
