Wisdom Tooth removal at 40 years of age. What can I expect?

[Taucher]

Hello,

So I have just two wisdom teeth, both on my lower jaw. They both grew very nicely with lots of space. One of them started hurting last week so I went to see my dentist - she said that I obviously take good care of my back teeth but that my left hand wisdom tooth has a fracture under the gum line and has to be removed.

I don't have my appointment yet but soon I will be going to my local dental hospital to have my cracked wisdom tooth removed under, I think, LA.

I am terrified - looking at the X-Ray my root on the wisdom tooth seems really long and developed and of course I have been reading online that older people (I am 40 years old!) have a hard time with wisdom teeth removal and that the bottoms ones are much more difficult to remove.

My dentist isn't the best at communication and when I asked her if the extraction is likely to go ok she just said 'fingers crossed' while guiding me out of her room (she was running late).

Is there any chance at all that it might come out easily and quickly or is it destined to be a horrendous experience?

Thanks

T

 

[MountainMama]

Not a dentist, but a lot of people on here have had wisdom teeth removed as adults with no issues at all. The surgeons know what things to look out for, like proximity to the nerve, and how to proceed based on that.
I had my wisdom teeth out as a teen (fully impacted), but I am now 40 and had my two lower right molars extracted this past year. Both had long curvy roots. One of them had roots that were bad enough my endodontist said she would recommend extraction over an attempted root canal. The extraction for that one was really easy. The other one broke as it was extracted and the roots were taken out separately. The only difference I noticed with age is that the healing time was longer. It wasn't harder necessarily, just took a little longer.

You will always find horror stories, but those are usually rare. They are just what you find when you search because people don't usually post when their extraction goes completely normally.

 

[Gordon]

It's a fully erupted wisdom tooth, therefore no more difficult than any other molar. It's the ones that are halfway in and then get totally stuck up against the teeth in front of them or against the angle of the jaw that are tricky. Fully erupted teeth's roots are no nearer the nerve than any other molar's roots.

Your age isn't an issue either, you're only 40