Oral pain is usually a bad sign for everyone, but it's often something that can be treated with relative leisure. The same can't be said when you're in your youth, however. If you haven't had your wisdom teeth taken out yet and you're experiencing pain in or near the back of your mouth, it may mean that it's time to change that. Here's what you should know about why the wisdom teeth are causing pain, why it's not a great idea to just leave them alone, and what you can do about it.

Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth are the large, final molars that grow into a person's mouth. They usually come in somewhere between one's teens and twenties, though it differs from person to person.

Wisdom teeth are typically extracted in this day and age. This is usually because there isn't enough space in a person's mouth for the wisdom teeth to come in properly. They can cause overcrowding and are generally unneeded, so removing them is the safest and quickest way to manage this problem. However, some people still feel that they can ignore the wisdom teeth and let them grow in. Unfortunately, that doesn't always go as planned.

When They Come in Wrong

Wisdom teeth are supposed to move in like any other teeth — straight up or down, depending upon whether it's the lower or upper row of teeth, respectively. Unfortunately, that's oddly not the case with many wisdom teeth.

Wisdom teeth can actually grow sideways. When this happens, they can still lie dormant for years just like any other wisdom teeth, but when the body sends the signal for the teeth to start growing in, they start pushing in the direction they're pointed in. This means that your wisdom teeth can crash into their neighboring teeth at the root, causing extreme pain. Without help, you can experience serious damage or downright destruction of the tooth that's in the way, as it can easily become infected after being damaged.

What to Do

Getting one's wisdom teeth out is really no big deal. All you need to do is go to your dentist's office to get the process started.

Your dentist will use x-rays to determine if your wisdom teeth are growing in and to look for issues like the aforementioned problems. If your wisdom teeth are ready to be taken out, they'll set up an appointment with you for surgery.

On the day of your surgery, you'll be placed under general anesthesia so you won't feel a thing. The surgeon will make small incisions in the gums to extract the wisdom teeth, and will then stitch the gums closed again. That's it; the whole process is complete at this point. Once your wisdom teeth are out you can go home and recover, knowing that your other teeth are safe.

For more information about wisdom teeth, contact an oral surgery service in your area.