Should I get my wisdom tooth removed?

[minuteoclock]

Awake at 4am panicking about this!

I am booked in for surgery next week to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed due to them being impacted and causing repeated abscesses.

Had a call from the consultant yesterday to explain that after reviewing my X-rays, I have a high risk of nerve damage on one of the teeth due to the position of the root.

She said nerve damage could cause permanent loss of sensation along my jaw, cheeks and lips but wouldn’t cause any change to my appearance. After researching myself it looks like it also has potential to cause pins and needles sensations or pain.

she was happy to go ahead with the operation or wait and get a more detailed scan that would give me more information as to the level of risk. However I’m not sure if there would be any benefit to this as surely the tooth needs removing anyway if impacted?

I’m really panicking now about what to do. And frustrated at my dentist for only referring me for the removal last year (at 27) as everything I’ve read says risk of nerve damage increases with age.

The problems you get - are they caused by different teeth equally or are some worse than others? Is having 3 out an option?
I was told to get them out earlier rather than later in life as the jaw would heal better younger.

Could you speak to her about taking the other three out and leaving that one? That might ease the pressure on your adult teeth - teeth do tend to move around a bit.

Unfortunately the one with the deep roots is the one that causes the most trouble so needs going I think :(

I'm in a similar position with impacted wisdom teeth but I'm not getting mine removed yet because fortunately I'm not getting the absesses yet. I totally get where you're coming from though - it's a risk and nobody ever seems to able to tell you how likely the tingling will be so it's hard to make a judgement. From my discussions we've discussed taking out the nearest molar first to then slide the wisdom tooth out away from the nerve and then I'll probably just get an implant put in to replace the molar. They did seem to think that went some way to mitigating the potential for tingling. Is that something they could do with you?