Impacted tooth

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Tooth anatomy

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Impacted tooth

Alternative Names:

Tooth - unemerged; Unemerged tooth; Dental impaction; Unerupted tooth

Symptoms:

Pain or tenderness of the gums (gingiva) or jaw bone
Unpleasant taste when biting down on or near the area
Visible gap where a tooth did not emerge
Bad breath
Redness and swelling of the gums around the impacted tooth
Swollen lymph nodes of the neck (occasionally)
Difficulty opening the mouth (occasionally)
Prolonged headache or jaw ache

Signs and tests:

Your dentist will look for enlarged tissue over the area where a tooth has not emerged, or has emerged only partially. The impacted tooth may be pressing on adjacent teeth. The gums around the area may show signs of infection, such as redness, drainage, and tenderness. As gums swell over impacted wisdom teeth and then drain and tighten, it may feel like the tooth came in and then went back down again.

Dental x-rays confirm the presence of one or more teeth that have not emerged.

Review Date: 8/12/2005
Reviewed By: Johanna Jacobs, D.D.S., General and Cosmetic Dentistry, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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