Wisdom tooth/jaw problem?!
Question:
Wisdom tooth/jaw problem?
I am 30 years old and still have all my wisdom teeth. Every few months my lower right wisdom tooth area becomes swelled up and very painful. It almost feels like there is a pus-pocket there. (The tooth is about 1/4 of the way through my skin). When the lump goes away, it feels better and I have no pain at all until the next "episode". During the day or so that it is swelled up, when I open my mouth all the way, it feels like my jaw is sliding incorrectly when I shut my mouth--you can literally see my lower jaw move to the side and see a weird lump form where the upper and lower jaw joint is. Any ideas? Last time I was at the dentist, (about 6 months ago) he took x-rays and said everything was fine, but I've been having this recurrent problem for over 3 years now. Any ideas of what I should do when this happens again, and what it could be? THANKS!
Answers:
The periodic swelling and tenderness in the soft flap of gum covering your wisdom tooth is an inflammatory condition called pericoronitis. It is caused by all the dirty things that gets caught underneath that flap of gum.
Just have your wisdom tooth extracted and you will never get pericoronitis there ever again.
As far as your jaw joint goes, that bump you see moving is called your condyle. When you open or close your jaw, the condyle slides forward (when opening) and backward (when closing) in the articulating fossa in your skull. The condyle is part of your lower jawbone, and some people do have prominent condyles that are visible as a moving bump under your skin. Unless you are getting wierd grinding noises in your jaw joint, I wouldn't worry about your jaw joint. Get your wisdom tooth taken care of because your pericoronitis seems to be the immediate problem.
Hope this helps.