What Is an Impacted Tooth?

When you have an impacted tooth, it won’t break through the surface of your gums. It’s sort of like being stuck. In many cases, your impacted tooth doesn’t even get discovered unless you have an X-ray at your dentist’s office. 

At Chester Family Dentistry in Warren, Ohio, Ana Chester, DDS, Amy Caicco, DDS, and the rest of our team provide care and treatment, if needed, for impacted teeth. If it causes problems with your oral health, we may need to perform an extraction. It’s also possible that your impacted tooth won’t affect your mouth at all.

Symptoms of an impacted tooth

We might need to extract your impacted tooth or teeth if you have any of the following problems:

• Pain in the affected area when opening your mouth
• Pain when biting down
• Bleeding gums
• Red, swollen gums
• A bad taste in your mouth
• Bad breath

Your symptoms can come and go, becoming more intense at times and then dissipating. If you have any of the issues mentioned above, schedule an appointment with our team. We can learn the cause of your symptoms and provide the dental care you need.

Causes of an impacted tooth

An impacted tooth occurs when your mouth can’t make room for it. Impaction happens most commonly with your wisdom teeth, your third set of molars that usually come in between the ages of 17 and 21. 

If your wisdom teeth don’t have enough room to emerge between the back of your jaw and your second molar, they can become impacted. If they cause problems, we recommend extracting them because they’re not really needed because you already have two sets of molars.

Your canine teeth — the longer, pointed teeth toward the front of your mouth — can be impacted too. These teeth are needed, so we provide treatment to help them break through your gums.

Prevention of an impacted tooth

You might wonder if you can prevent the occurrence of an impacted tooth, and the answer is yes! That’s why we encourage you to start your routine visits with our dental team at a young age. We can foresee any issues before they become a problem. In many cases, impaction can be thwarted with just a few simple steps.

If you’re suffering from pain related to an impacted tooth and you’re over the age of 18, we recommend that you use over-the-counter medication for relief, such as aspirin. We can also prescribe medication as a short-term method to diminish your discomfort until we can remove your impacted tooth surgically.

If you have questions about an impacted tooth or would like to schedule an appointment, call us at 330-331-9026 today or book online.