Third molars, or wisdom teeth, are the final teeth to develop in the dentition.  They generally emerge between the ages of 17 and 21.

Many factors affect wisdom teeth and not everyone will have the same experiences – some people will have four wisdom teeth and some will have none.  The most common problems are that these teeth can be ‘fully impacted’ under the gum or they may only erupt half way - ‘partial eruption’.  They can often erupt at different angles due to the lack of room for them in your jaw.  This can make cleaning difficult, cause pain, infection, crowding, cysts or damage to nearby teeth.  Removal is often the only solution.


Impacted Wisdom Teeth

To determine the exact placement of your wisdom teeth a thorough examination is carried out, often comprising of a combination of x-rays.

Removal of wisdom teeth is usually a very routine procedure.  This can be performed under local anaesthetic with inhalation or oral sedation; we can carry out the procedure under general anaesthetic if we decide this is necessary.


Typical Procedure